Makai Gaiden: The Unbroken Seal
by scikaiju
Summary: Months after their Marriage Jules's help is requested by a former teacher to help recover dangerous items that had been stolen from a vault that had been hidden there long ago. Can she discover who is behind the theft and recover the items and help a young student who had been pegged as the prime suspect.
1. Prologue

A/N - This is chaptered out, but it wasn't originally as a multi part story. I only decided to s[lit it up into chapters after realizing how long it was going to be. So if some of the chapters seem a bit weird that's the reason why, otherwise please enjoy

* * *

The night air felt a bit colder than usual despite the summery time of year. A very clear drop of temperature caught everyone caught all who were out in the area off guard. A young man walked the streets with his head down while trying to tighten his very light jacket around him in a failing attempt to keep out the chill. He was on a pretty busy street so he felt relatively safe for the moment, there wasn't a whole lot of crime in this part of the city so he didn't have to worry about getting mugged, there wasn't even a prostitute walking the sidewalk. At least one that could be easily recognizable by most people's standard. And if there were they were making sure they weren't standing out in any way to draw any obvious attention. Then again maybe this sudden chill might be keeping them indoors as well, or at least more warmly dressed. "Fuck it's cold," he muttered, ignoring the slight fog indicating his breath hanging in the air, as he started rubbing his arms to try to get warmer. "Bastards didn't say anything about this on the news this morning."

Pulling out his phone he went to check the temperature, but his phone wasn't on. "What the hell?". He tried turning it on. It did for a brief moment, just long enough for him to see that the battery was dead. "Fuck!", he spat. "I know this POS was fully charged before I left." He started banging on the phone, despite knowing that wouldn't work. Now he couldn't even call a cab if he had to. "Why did I agree to head out tonight?", he asked himself as he kept going feeling miserable. "I don't even like the people he works with to begin with." Still keeping his head down he continued toward the reluctantly agreed upon destination. As he kept walking, out of the corner of his eye he couldn't help but notice a older man being back lighted as he stood in front of a open doorway. The idea that this guy didn't seem bothered by the cold, not even wearing a coat, irritated him slightly.

"Cold tonight isn't it?", the man asked. He seemed friendly enough so he stopped. Which was weird because he wouldn't stop for some random stranger on the street looking to start up a conversation, especially after a stupid line like that. But it was like something was compelling him to slow down and look at the man.

"You ain't lying there dude," he said as he started blowing into his hand. He looked past the stranger at the building itself. He couldn't exactly see inside since the guy was blocking the door enough that he couldn't get a good look. So he studied at the exterior, and was surprised to see it was some sort of shelter. His brow creased a bit, he'd walked this street more times times than he could count and never noticed it before. He knew people called him oblivious at times but he couldn't be that bad, could he?

"Do you want to come in?", he looked at the man after the surprising offer was made. "Just put on a fresh pot of joe. So it should be nice and piping hot, perfect for a cold spell like this one."

"No thanks," he quickly said. Gesturing toward the building he went on, "I think other people need it more than me."

"I realize that son," this man said with a friendly chuckle and he took a step closer to him. "But I was figuring that you might want to get out of this cold for a bit." All right that did sound more than a little tempting considering how much he was shivering at the moment. "And the coffee should heat you right up. Just a couple of minutes to get the chill off you bones."

"Okay you win," he finally conceded. "But the moment I hear I'm probably going to hell and I'm out of here."

The stranger laughed a pretty hearty laugh if he had ever heard one. "That's one thing you won't have to worry about here. Come on," he put a arm around his shoulder as he started to guide him toward the door, "I'll get you a seat by the space heater. Glad I thought to pull that out of storage. I'm even more thankful it worked. I was planning on throwing it out and getting a new one, then this happened."

"Is that offer open to anybody?", a new voice asked. Both of them looked behind them to see a blond haired woman standing there shivering as much as he was. Granted her coat looked way warmer than his jacket at the moment.

"Of course," the strange old man said as he looked at her. "The more the merrier I always say." He started to heard them in then it looked like something occurred to him, "Now where are my manners, my friends call me Steve."

"Trevor," he responded, if the old guy was offering a bit of warmth from this sudden cold then it would just be rude.

Both of them looked back at the woman who just said, "Jules." The way she said her name was friendly enough, but something made him look at her a little more closely, it was like she was on some kind of alert, like she was looking for something to come out and attack her The old man didn't seem to notice as he gestured for them to go first.

"Ladies first," he said more or less automatically, such a thing being driven into him by both both his parents and grandparents for as long as he could remember.

She smiled and told him,"Thank you," both of them parted to let her by. Trevor saw her reach out and put a hand, noticing the leather looking thing on her wrist for the first time, on the door jam as she took a look inside before going in. He blinked a few times, the cold must be causing his eyes to play tricks on him. He could have sworn there was a piece of paper left behind once she lifted her hand away. But nothing was there. Steve didn't even act like he noticed anything was off as he entered behind them and closed the door, using a little extra force to get it to close.

"I keep meaning to get that fixed," he said as he turned around. "Started doing that a couple of years ago. I didn't think anything of it at the time but it's been getting worse."

"Old buildings tend to do that," Jules commented as she looked around while she rubbed her hands together to warm them up. Trevor did the same, a little surprised at how spartan the interior actually was. He was expecting a couple of rows of tables and chairs at least like most shelters he'd seen on T.V. But there were no tables, just a handful of folding chairs by that offered space heater sitting on an old wooden stool, which to be honest did look like it had seen better days. But it was warm in here, in fact he felt himself starting to sweat a little.

"That they do," Steve readily agreed. "About the time I do get it fix will probably be around the time it stops closing completely." He chuckled to himself as he gently guided them to the heater. "Now go right ahead and grab a seat, talk a little, get to know each other a bit. Who knows, this might be the start of something special." When they finally did sit he looked strangely satisfied. "I'll go get that coffee I promised you. I'm currently out of cream and sugar though, I hope that's all right."

"Just the way I like it," Jules told him.

Trevor told him, "Just as long as it's not decaff, I'm going to need the buzz considering where I'm going. I'm going to be bored out of my mind."

"No worries there my boy," Steve said with that same smile. "And a lady after my own heart. I'll be back in a few ticks."

Once they were alone, Jules looked back to were he went before returning her attention to him. She looked him over a bit, not exactly like a piece of meat but it was still a little unnerving. Finally she stopped looking at him and smiled a bit as she went, "I'm sure he's a nice guy who means well and all but before you get any ideas," she reached up and lightly rubbed a slim gold pin that was a couple of inches long, there was some sort of markings inscribed on it that he couldn't quite make out from where he was sitting, "but I'm already spoken for."

"Same here," he informed her. "In fact I'm wondering how long I should stay before leaving. He's going to wonder where I am before long." He looked at his phone, yup still useless at the moment. "And I'm out of a charge apparently."

"The cold might have zapped the battery," Jules offered.

"Probably," he agreed. "I don't suppose you have a charger on you?"

She at least looked apologetic as she answered with, "Don't carry one, sorry."

"Guess I should expect a ton of voice mails asking where I'm at after I charge this up then," he sighed and started looking around. Even if she did have a charge cord with her, or he thought to bring his, where was he going to pug it in? He wasn't seeing an outlet anywhere. Then he noticed Jules was staring intently at the heater. It took him a moment but he realized why she was staring at it, his grandparents had a model similar to this one. Those coils should be glowing a reddish orange by now, so it wasn't working. But why was it so warm in here? "What the hell?", he started to get up but she grabbed his arm and got him to sit back down.

"Don't move," she told him, an edge in her voice that wasn't there before startled him. He kept looking back and forth between her and the heater as she reached into her coat. He was suddenly very afraid of an old space heater. This was ridiculous. Then she slapped something on his forehead. He got a brief look at some red paper blocking his vision slightly before he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

After making sure he wasn't going to fall out of the chair Jules wondered exactly how she was going to drag this poor bastard out of here. She kept her eyes on the heater, it had to be connected to the Horror some how. Then she remembered about Steve and whipped around with her Madou Brush in hand to see him stand there holding two Styrofoam cups of coffee, still smiling at her. "I thought you were a Makai Priest." Jules positioned herself so she was between the two of them. "It's a vibe I quickly learned to read."

"Guess I need to work on that," she quipped. Now was Steve here the Horror they were looking for, or was he just a pawn trying to look out for his own skin?

"Nice trick with that talisman though, I almost didn't see it vanish like it did, that was a very neat trick. Although I should be a bit peeved you knock our friend out like that." he said gesturing one of the cups toward Trevor, "Wasted a perfectly good dose of poison, thiese things ain't exactly cheap and easy to come by you know."

Jules eyed the older man, no Horror she knew of poisoned their victim's first, so working for the Horror then. So she tried to get through to him, because otherwise she would have to do something she might regret later. "What ever the Horror promised you you have to know it won't keep it's word. It'll consume you at some point."

"Oh I'm aware of that," he said taking a step forward, Jules took up a defensive position that caused him to stop and look at the coffee in his hands. "Told it it could have me as soon as my body finally gives out, and the way things are going that should happening sooner rather than later. But before then I feed it every so often and it's happy. Better than having it just roam about don't you think?" Okay she wasn't going to regret this all that much if it got physical between them. Which was now as he threw one of those coffees at her. Jules easily dodged and kept from getting scalded from the hot liquid and went after the old man.

He acted like he was going to throw the other one but she kicked it out of his hand. Then he started throwing some kicks of his own that she blocked. The old guy was moving like a professional fighter, he might have even been one in his younger days. But something told her that he wasn't expecting much of a fight from any ol' Makai Priest, male or female. As she steadily block or dodged whatever attack he tried to throw at her Jules was quickly showing him that he wasn't dealing with just any Makai Priest. She was one of the few who could actually fight and seal a Horror. Keeping him at arms length she backed up just long enough to get around a punch by bending foreward at the waist, and brought her right foot up to smash him in the face in the process. As he stumbled back holding his nose she rose back up and brought her brush down in a huge arc aiming for his head.

He saw this coming from a mile away and brought up his arms to block it. Just like she wanted him to. Jules stopped just short of striking his arms, instead kicking out with a foot that knocked him back to the wall behind him. She spun away after the blow and looked at him him glaring at her. She couldn't help it, the smirk just appeared on her lips as she waved him on. He looked to the side suddenly then started smiling as well. She lost the smirk as confusion briefly took her. Then she heard some sort of grinding, whirring sounding mechanical noise behind her and it hit her. The heater he had them sit by wasn't connected to the Horror, it was the Horror. She glanced back to see that heater sprout a set of demonic looking clockwork arms and legs from a equally demonic looking body as it got off the stool it was on.

The Horror turned it's frame to the poor bastard she knocked out. She ran in and hit it with the energized bristles of her brush as it reached out for him. Jumping up a bit he pushed off the metal body of the Horror and made sure her other foot hit the chair the poor guy was sitting on to push it away from the thing trying to eat she was grabbed from behind by Steve as she kept her attention on making sure neither she or the guy was eaten. After a brief struggle she was able to break free of his grasp, turn around and throw him to the ground. Quickly she grabbed the unconscious man and pulled him further away from the fight. In one motion she jumped around in front of the guy, pulled a red slim slip of paper out of her coat as turned around to face the Horror and the old man. Running her brush over it she placed it on the ground to form a quick barrier between them. The Horror immediately began assusuting it and she knew it wasn't going to last long to begin with. She didn't need it to. She brought up her brush and quickly brought her other hand on top of the glowing bristles.

Jules and, despite being on the other side of the barrier, the old man ducked as the paper she placed earlier in the jam exploded, causing the door to open up. "You think that's going to help?", Steve sneered. "There's a barrier around this place."

"One that will let people in but not out," Jules quickly cut him off. "We have records of this particular's Horror's bag of tricks you know. Besides I wasn't trying to get us out." The Horror and the old man both looked at the door as a shape walked through the smoke still lingering in the air. "I was letting someone in." In a dark long coat and holding a black staff with gold inlay in various spots, a single man with dirty blond like hair walked in with a purpose as he locked his eyes on the Horror immediately. That smirk return to her lips as she turned back to the old man, "Say hi to the hubby."

The horror started speaking in it's language, one both foreign and ancient, but she, and those of the Makai Order, knew enough of it to know it said one thing, "Makai Knight."

She stood next to Carter as they faced the Horror and the old man. Jules had no question in her mind that she could have probably taken on this Horror by herself. But with the Steve there fighter her too and not to mention sleeping beauty in the chair she didn't need to be distracted at the wrong moment. Even Carter admitted he had similar misgivings when facing multiple opponents, you sometimes got your eyes on the wrong opponent at the wrong time and that was it. But two on two, well that was a different story altogether. "You're late," she told Carter jokingly. His only reaction was to glance at her briefly before returning his attention to the Horror. That wasn't him being annoyed at her comment, no that was his 'are you serious right now?' look. She learned that one even before they became a couple. "How about we spice things up a bit," she told him. "You occupy the old man and I take on the Horror." Again he said nothing, he pulled the staff apart revealing the hidden blades inside. "The usual boring way then," she said with a fake yawn. As one they charged the Horror and the old man.

The old man moved to try and block Carter's path, Jules was already there knocking him out of the way as Carter continued on toward the their target. She also knew she had another task to worry about, since she knew spells and magic in general it was her job to figure out what was keeping the barrier up and disable it if possible. It was why she was out here first. Since she didn't spot anything on the outside that meant it was in here, but where was it? Jules didn't spot anything when she first walked in and set the explosive seal, even talking to the guy who was still knocked out in the chair she didn't spot it. Speaking of they had to get him out of here some how. Jules caught a punch thrown at here head and twisted the old man's arm in a hammer lock that forced the old man around. Wrapping her other arm around his neck she struggled with him eventually getting turned around to see Carter fight the Horror. Watching them her eye caught something, a slight shimmery effect that usually indicated one thing. Pushing the old man away with a kick to the rump she retrieved a grey slip of paper and used her brush to hurl it at the Horror as it turned to a metal spike as soon as it left her hand. It hit the shimmery area and the Horror reacted, so did the open door way as the air seemed to shimmer as well. "There!", she yelled at Carter.

He saw what happened at the door as well and nodded as he concentrated on the area where the spike was. The seal keeping the barrier in place was on the Horror. It started to protect the area more as Carter increased his assault with both blades. He blocked two strikes coming his way, one attack with one blade and a kick with the other. Jules saw what he was going to do immediately, he had both blades positioned so he could connect the other ends to form his double bladed sword. Doing so he pushed the Horror away and started swinging with the weapon having nearly doubled his reach as he held it with one hand. Jules shot an elbow back as she felt the old man coming up behind her, and tried not to feel any satisfaction as she felt his nose give away. She turned back to face him, briefly wondering if he thought that by eventually feeding himself to the Horror would absolve him of the sins of feeding other people to the thing.

It was the second time she had seen that particular line of thinking, The first time being her former mentor Vincent, it made her sick then and it made her just as sick now so she didn't exactly hold back as she beat up Steve while Carter took on the Horror. Then he got through and stabbed the shimmery area with one end of the staff. The Horror recoiled and screamed. Both of them looked at the door as the air shimmered again then seem to shatter. The barrier was broken. "No!" Steve yelled as he grabbed her. She was able to shrug him off again, punching him for good measure. Then he started stumbling toward Carter and the Horror, getting between the two of them. Jules quickly rushed over to help her husband in case he needed it. Then the air around the old man started to look funny, like he was a reflection in a fun house mirrored. "No!" he shouted out. "Not yet!" Both of them watched as he sucked up into the Horror.

Despite everything Jules did try to feel sorry for the old man, she really did. Nobody deserved to be devoured by a Horror no matter what they did. But in the end all she could muster was, "I tried to warn him."

The Horror started thrashing around, like it was trying to bring the building down on top of them. "Get him out of here," Carter told her. But she was already going for the guy she put the sleeping spell on. Grabbing his chair she started pulling him to the door. Once there she got under a arm and hoisted him up, taking his dead weight and got him out the door. She look back just long enough to see him spin his weapon over his head, forming the circle that would summon his armor. Knowing the fight was well in hand she dragged Trevor onto the open street. Getting across the street she spotted a empty bus waiting area and laid him on the bench. She looked around, nobody was in sight. So use did a quick motion with her brush and aimed at it the bench. It glowed softly, that should keep him warm enough until the sleep spell wore off. She went back to see if Carter needed any help but he was already exiting the building reconnecting his weapons back into the staff, she so could have taken that Horror if the numbers weren't against her. She went to met him as he looked past her to the sleeping man, "Is he why you went in early?"

"I didn't want him to get eaten," she told him. Carter simply nodded as he continued on to the sleeping man. Jules joined him. That's when they both heard a particular beep going off again and again. Seeing a soft light in his hand she realized it was his phone. She looked at it, twenty messages from the same number, more than likely the person he was planning on meeting. "Either you're friend is really worried or he's borderline possessive," she softly said as she replaced the phone.

"The barrier was what it made it so cold," a tinny voice said. Both her and Carter looked at the Gothic looking pin on his chest. "It absorbs all the heat in the area as part of the trap, which is why it was so warm in there. Apparently it sucked in battery life too. With it gone things should go back to normal soon enough."

"Any idea when it's going to start to feel warmer Xypher?", she asked as she rubbed her hands together.

"I'm not really sure but it might take a while," was his answer.

"Figures," she said, moving away just so she stay warm. That spell only kept you warm if you were in contact with the item it was cast on. "Times like these I almost wished we had a television set. Just so I can see them try to explain something like this," Jules tried to joke but wasn't feeling all that humorous at the moment. She looked at the building, trying not to think about all the souls that were lost to that Horror before they found out about it. "You know I really hate it when they take over an inanimate objects like that."

"It's rare," Carter said as he walked up to her, "but it happens."

"It's not even that," she went on still rubbing her arms slightly. "I mean you can't even use the flame to check for them. There's no eyes." She stopped talking when Carter putting his coat around her caught her off guard. She looked at him, he wasn't betraying anything like he usually did when out in public, but she knew him well enough to see the concern in his face. "You know, if you showed this side of you more often you'd probably have more friends." This time he did give her his annoyed look. So she reached up and kissed him. It wasn't much but his expression did soften a little.

Xypher on the other hand, "It's not fair. I say that and I get flicked." They ignored him as they walked away from the building and sleeping man.


	2. Chapter 1

The next morning, and feeling much warmer, Jules was out in the backyard of their home and looked at a tree that had become her target of choice since she married Carter and moved in. There was no real reason for her choice. Outside of that it was far enough away from the house that any misfire shouldn't harm things too much, it was just there, and Carter didn't seem to mind it. Mason, the servant she didn't know he had until right before they were married, even painted a crude target on it for her. But all of that was before she tried this. In one hand she held her Madou Brush, a grey slip of paper in the fingers of that same hand. She brought up that hand along with the other, which had some sort of device on her middle finger and thumb, and brought them together. She snapped the fingers on her free hand causing a spark. Quickly she drew the brush away causing a stream of flame to trail behind it. She spun as she usually did when preforming this spell, and the fire trail spiraled around her. As Jules held her hands above her head as the fire started to ball up above her brush, she grabbed the slip of paper with her free and. Instead of firing a fireball like she usually did Jules brought her brush down and rubbed the bristles like she did to fire off a metal spike.

As the paper flew off in the direction of the tree it did form the metal spike, although this one encased in a ball of fire. She held her breath as it quickly approached the tree. Then the spike exploded before it hit the tree. Jules tried to cover herself as best as she could mainly as a reflex from any flaming debris that might have come her way but any quickly burned up after they flew about a foot. Lowering her arm she looked at the tree, "Damn it."

"There are," she heard Xypher say, she looked back to see Carter come up the old stone path, "easier ways if you want that particular tree gone so badly."

She blew out a frustrated breath as she looked back at that tree, "Not now Xypher." she walked the path the spike flew on. "That almost worked this time," she muttered to herself. "What am I not seeing that's causing it to blow up before it reaches the target?"

Behind her Carter was following her, at a respectable distance since he saw how annoyed she was at the moment, "That was a new attack spell," he commented. "When did you come up with it?"

"Your mom gave me the idea," she informed him. "When I went over there last week so she could help me tweak this." She raised up the hand with the device. "We were talking about combining various magic spells when she brought it up."

"I thought it was working fine," Carter commented. She stopped and took it off her hand and looked at it.

"And I'm about as much of a inventor as Reks was a fighter." she looked wistful;y at the device, remember her former partner who was trained along side her since they were children, "He would have had this working properly on his first try." She looked up at Carter, "Yes it worked but the spark it made wasn't big enough to get the proper effect I needed." she looked back at the tree, "Now I'm wonder if the spark is too big."

"You'll figure it out," Carter said confidently. "You're a better inventor than you think."

"You're sweet to say that," she said with a smile, "but Vincent realized my talents were more in the combat arts than creative and trained me accordingly. But I'll admit this is driving me a little nuts trying figure it out," she placed the device and her brush inside her coat.

"If it's bothering you that much maybe you need to blow off a little steam," he told her, "just to clear your head of course."

She grinned a little more, "Of course." She kissed him real quick before backing up a few feet. Taking up a fighting stance she asked, "The usual rules?"

He nodded once as he took up a stance of his own, a slight smile gracing his lips, "No weapons, no spells." And a unspoken rule, don't intentionally hurt each other but don't hold back either. Both of them stood there waiting for the other to strike first. Granted this was Carter's usual way to clear one's mind, but it was fun in it's own way. Generally both of them would hold off as long as possible, just to see who would make the first move. But today she was frustrated as hell so she went in fast with a high kick aimed at his head. It also caught Carter completely off guard as just barely got out of the way. She kept up the attack, successfully keeping him off balanced enough that he couldn't get off a counter attack of his own. Then she tried a side kick that he caught easily enough. He flipped her by the leg and she went flying in the air. Jules had enough body control at the moment that she curled into a small ball and spun until she landed in a crouched position in front of him. Like she expected he came at her as soon as she landed.

Carter came at her with a knee strike that she quickly leaped up to avoid, then jumped off that knee into a back flip. When she landed he launched a flurry of punches that she blocked with a little effort. She kicked him hard enough to back him up a bit then came in low with a leg sweep that knocked him off his feet. She got on top of him but after a bit of a struggle Carter was able to flip her off of him. Both of them got to their feet and went at each other again. At this point both of them knew each other's fighting style well enough that they both blocked each other. Then Carter grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. She was close enough to a tree that she ran up and flipped off, twisting in the air and landed on his shoulders. Quickly she wrapped her legs around his neck and started squeezing. She knew Carter probably had a couple of way out of this hold come to mind but she held on for all she's worth, getting ready in case she felt him start to fall back.

But he didn't do that, he got a hold of her ankles and started pulling her legs from his neck, then he pushed her off. Falling backwards she flipped over to make sure she didn't land on her head. But before she could get her balance he grabbed her arm again and spun her around. Then he wrapped his arms around her trapping her arms against her side. Jules struggled to get free while she tried to figure out what this particular form of attack was. The she felt his mouth where her neck met her shoulders and stop struggling to free herself. Despite not having any sort of experience with women before he met her he quickly figured out where one of her turn ons were. Grinning she said, "This is the very definition of a dirty trick."

"Mm-hmm", he said as he kept at it. His grip loosened just enough that she could turn around and faced him and kissed him passionately.

She broke away long enough to say, "If you were in the mood you could have just said something. Like you had to something to show me upstairs."

He shrugged, "This way was more fun."

"I'm learning things about my husband all the time," she said as she kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. He backed her up until they were against the tree she flipped off of.

They only stopped when Xypher spoke up, "Could you put me in a pocket or something. I really don't want to learn how humans procreate today. Or ever for that matter" Carter was annoyed at the interruption but Jules just smirked as she lightly tapped the pin on the forehead.

A cough made them look over to see Mason standing there holding a tray trying not to look at them directly, "Pardon my intrusion but a message from the Watchdogs has just arrived

Carter just grunted as Jules went, "Have I mentioned they have lousy timing lately?" Both of them walked toward Mason, Jules in particular wondering what they were going to be sent after now. That was the problem with Horrors, sometimes there were lulls in their sighting, then there were spurts of activity. Nobody in the Order had figured it out the reason for it yet, and she doubted that they ever would. Then she and Carter stopped when they got a look at the contents of the tray.

"A white envelope?", he said looking at Mason. Both of them were confused at this. The envelope was usually red.

"I know there's a black envelope for extra special assignments," Jules said. "But what does a white one mean?" Carter stood there shaking his head. Xypher didn't even have an answer.

"I think I should have been more specific," Mason told them. He moved the tray toward her, "The message is for Miss Jules."

"For Jules?", Carter said sounding a bit confused. So was she as she took the envelope from the tray. She never heard of the Watchdogs sending orders to Makai Priests, at least not lately. As she examined it she saw it wasn't sealed so there was no need to use the Madou fire to get the message. Inside she found a letter, written in regular handwriting. She started reading it over as Carter asked, "What does it say?"

"It's from Olivia," she looked up at Carter, "she was the head of the Makai Priest side of the training ground I was at before Vincent took me and Reks under his wing." Reading a little more she felt her confusion grow, "She's asking me to go to the Watchdogs for details of a request she wants to make of me."

"Why not just say so in the letter?", Xypher asked. Jules wasn't sure what to tell the pin.

"She must think it was important enough to keep up this level of secrecy," she ended up saying. "You don't think somebody trying to cause a rift in the Order again?", she looked at Carter, who visibly tensed a bit. Jules couldn't blame him, not after Reks and Sigma before that. Not to mention that Vincent ended up using that as a cover for his own plans.

"I think the Watchdogs would have sent for me directly if that was the case," he eventually said.

"You're right," she said while she put the letter back in the envelope and placed it back on the tray. "Don't even know why my mind went there first. I guess because it be easier to get the idea in their heads when they're young or something like that. Well I didn't have any plans for this Morning," well Carter apparently had some sort of plan in mind, but again lousy timing, "feel like taking a trip down my memory lane?"

"Lead the way Mrs. Greystone," Carter said as he bowed a bit and gestured toward the stone path. She bowed in return.

Mason moved aside to let them pass. Before they got to far he called out, "I'll keep dinner warm until you return." While Carter didn't react, like always, Jules at least waved a goodbye to the man. But her mind was still racing trying to figure out what this could be about.

* * *

After going into one of the hidden entrances that led to the Watchdogs, they walked the passage ways that led to the chamber the Watchdogs usually spoke to people in they emerged from the darkness that cloaked most of the chamber. As always there were in their balconies looking down as she and Carter stopped and stood side by side under the only apparent source of light in the room. The Watchdogs wore the usual bored expression they always had as they stood there. Both of them bowed as a sign of respect to their superiors and waited. The female of the two spoke first. "Makai Priest Jules." Then she glanced over at Carter, "Rook, you we were not expected."

"And yet," the male said, "we are not surprised. They do travel together now, partners in the order as in life." The female's expression didn't change but it did look like she sniffed a bit, almost as if she was rebuke. Ignoring this the male continued, "I'm sure you are curious at the level of secrecy regarding this particular summons."

"It was piqued," Jules admitted. "Orders from here are usually a little more straight forward. What's going on that Olivia wouldn't or couldn't tell me in her letter?"

"There has been an issue at the trainig ground she looks over," the female answered. "Things have been stolen from the forbidden vault hidden there by the Order." Beside her Carter was confused by this, but she knew exactly what the Watchdog was talking about. She only found out about it after she followed Olivia and Vincent one night after he decided to mentor her. "So you can see the need for secrecy in this situation."

"I do," she answered.

Carter spoke up, "Why would a training ground house a forbidden vault?" Everyone in the Order knew, or at least heard rumors of the forbidden vaults. They contained spells or items considered too dangerous to be left in the outside world. And their locations were a closely guarded secret, known only to those in the Senate and a select few assigned to guard those locations. "It's contents would be a danger to the students training there."

"Because the vault was there before the training ground was built," Jules told him, repeating the answer she was given when she asked the same question. Although it still baffled her that neither the vault or school wasn't moved by now. Granted it would be easier to move the school. "The location of this particular vault got lost over time, only to be rediscovered after the training ground was already running."

"That would be correct," the male Watchdog said. "And considering Makai Priest Olivia's diligence in guarding this particular vault it is surprising someone else discovered it's location."

Seeing she only found out about it by accident Jules commented, "Nothing stays hidden forever and mistakes can happen, even to the best of us. Did Olivia say she had any suspects?"

"She has one," the female answered, "She had already been detained and is currently being questioned."

Brow furrowing at this bit of news Jules asked, "Then why am I being sent for? It sounds like Olivia has thing well in hand."

"Because Olivia isn't completely sure they have the right person," the female replied. "According to her the evidence pointing to this individual is, in her opinion, circumstantial at best. And she fears that since the suspect is the student of the Priest leading the investigation, his judgement might be a little impaired. She wants someone not currently connected to the training ground but familiar enough with it to look at things with fresh, unbiased eyes."

"You are familiar with the Priest leading this particular investigation," the male told her sensing her next question, if it's the student of the one investigating the situation shouldn't Olivia be worried this Priest would be trying too hard to clear this person. Jules tilted her head a bit, who would she know that would be at the training ground? Then the Watchdog supplied the answer, "Makai Priest Walter." Jules stiffened at the names. He was one of the two Priest sent to fetch her after Vincent tried to expose their world in the worst way imaginable. And he didn't hide his opinion that she was just as guilty as he was before she was even questioned on the matter. "Based on your reaction you share Makai Priest Olivia concern in the matter."

"Maybe not the same exact concerns as she has," she said. "But I am afraid he's already judged this person guilty and letting that drive his decisions in this matter."

"That was Makai Priest Olivia's primary concern as well," he said. "While we do wish for this matter to be tidied up in a timely matter we do not want an innocent party to suffer the cosequences."

"I'm sure nobody wants that," Carter commented.

"You never dealt with Walter," she informed him. She glanced up at the Watchdogs wondering exactly how much they knew when Walter and that other Priest came to retrieve her for questioning. She didn't want to accidentally get Carter into trouble by mention that he promised to hunt Walter down if he did anything to her along the way. "While he did take your... suggestion seriously. It didn't stop him from saying things like he couldn't wait to see me rot behind bars."

"Kinda wish we were there when they cleared you," Xypher quipped. Jules didn't respond out loud, but she did get a little bit of satisfaction when she walked past him a free Makai Priest. Okay a lot of satisfaction, the guy was just an ass in general.

"So you can see why I want to make sure the person they think did it gets a fair chance," Jules went on. She spoke to the Watchdogs, "I'll leave for the training ground immediately." Turning back to Carter she said, "Ready to see where I spent a good portion of my childhood?"

"We don't think some things were made clear," the female spoke up getting their attention. "Makai Priest Olivia wanted it understood that you and just you were to come and no one else. She specifically requested that Rook was not to make an appearance at this time."

"Me and Carter are partners," Jules insisted. "Where I go he goes too and vice a versa." Why would Olivia insist that only she come and not bring Carter? Her first instinct of someone trying to split the order started to crawl back into her head again. She quickly pushed it back down. No the Watchdogs and the Senate would had made certain of anything having to deal with a forbidden vault before sending her in on Olivia's request.

The male spoke, "We are aware of this, as is Makai Priest Olivia. But as one of the heads of the training ground, and guardian of this vault, we must honor her wishes on the matter."

She didn't like this, but they were right, they had to honor her request. "Very well."

"We will send word that you are on your way," the male said. Both of them bowed again as the Watchdogs retreated to wherever they go when they leave those balconies.

"You can show me the training ground some other time," Carter said as they turned to leave the room.

"I still don't like this, why not let me bring you along just in case?"

"Can I point out something," Xypher said. "About how you had an issue with Carter not mentioning Mason when you were keeping a location of a forbidden vault from him." Carter went to flick the pin but just this once she stopped him.

"Are you seriously comparing keeping quiet about one man to a vault location?", she asked the pin. Who, seeing while she stopped him from getting flicked Xypher also saw she didn't make Carter lower his hand, didn't answer right away.

Carter did for him, "It's a huge difference. Vaults locations are carefully guarded secrets. Keeping quiet about one man because I was embarrassed about the situation is no where close to the same thing."

"I'm just saying," the pin said a little sullen.

"Just be careful,' Carter told her as they exited the hidden portal and back onto the street. "If the person they have isn't the culprit then that person is still roaming free. And if they got into a vault"

"Who know what they took," she finished the thought for him. It crossed her mind more than once while they were talking to the Watchdogs. Granted she didn't know the exact contents of this particular vault outside of a couple of things Vincent had her and Reks helped him research. And those were bad enough. "Don't worry, this one time I'll take the warning. But don't get used to me agreeing with it, is that understood? Were you at least going to be walking with me to the city limits?" Like he did earlier he motioned that she should take the lead and quickly followed after she passed him.

"I could open a path for you," he offered as she turned and headed in the camp's general direction. "You'll get there quicker."

"No," she told him, although the offer was tempting, Besides he would need to be there to have Xypher open the other end, and she wasn't exactly sure how strict Olivia's request that she show up alone actually was. Besides it was only an hour or so walk out of the city "I'm going to need the time to figure out what exactly I'm going to do when I get involved." He nodded as they walked the streets. "Hopefully this won't take too long and I'll be back by tonight. So you just make sure you stay out of trouble while I'm gone Mr. Greystone. " He glanced sideways at her, but she caught the slight smirk on his face before he tried covering it up.


	3. Chapter 2

There was one thing about being part of the Order that she was currently grateful for, you got used to a lot of walking. Yes some Makai Priests and Knight had a type of vehicle to use, but certain places like the training grounds generally need to be reached by foot, although close to open areas like the one she was currently passing through. Mainly because they were far enough out of the way not to be spied upon by uninitiated eyes. But considering how fast the regular humans were expanding out she sometimes wondered how long that was going to last. Vincent would have gotten his wish eventually, he might not have lived to see it but it would have happened. More than likely the Order had already considered this and had things in place for when that happened, it was still a unsettling thought.

Jules slowed down slightly as she came across a sign you would have only paid attention to if you were part of the order. To any other random passer by it would have been an old wooden street sign that was used decades ago that was never taken down. They might have even mistaken the particular style of lettering as some sort of graffiti, maybe even took a picture of it. But she knew better, it was the Makai language and basically it said the training ground was near. More out of habit from living in a crowded city than anything else she looked around to make sure nobody was coming in either direction as she stepped off the road and onto a field, heading toward a wooded area that wasn't that far off and followed a path, one that was barely used and overgrown but noticeable to her eyes. And one deeply rooted in her memory.

Once in the wooded area the path became more clear as she looked around and quickly spotted the guards posted there, their wooden staffs pointed in her general direction. "I'm Jules, Olivia's expecting me," she said. They nodded and stepped aside to let her through. "Thank you," she said with a nod as she continued on. Her memory wasn't getting tampered with today, something she was always grateful for, although she saw the necessity considering what they did and what was hidden in this particular area. Going deeper she saw the first signs of the training ground and smiled as various memories flooded her mind. She looked to her left, if she remembered correctly... There they were, a group of children, boys and girls, practicing various moves and forms, the future generation of Makai Priests. Looking in the other direction it took a little longer but she spotted them a group of boys doing the same thing but with a weapon in their hands, the Makai Knights of tomorrow.

Vincent once told her that in the past the two groups had separate training grounds but civilization's advancement had created the need to combine them in some areas. She stopped when she came to a particular tree, remembering seeing Reks spy on the young Knight trainees. At the time she thought it was because she thought he wanted to be a Knight instead of a Priest. A far assumption on her part considering more than a few of the boys in her group had that desire. But considering Reks was willing to become the next Sigma now she wasn't so sure. Did he have that hatred of Knights all along? Or did he run into a group that bullied him into feeling that way. She'll never know now. Although she hoped it was the latter because she hate to think she missed how he really felt about the Knights after all the years she knew him. Or worse, ignored it as something not as bad as it turned out to be.

The sight of someone approaching in her direction snapped her out of her thoughts and a smile started to form as she saw who it was and waved. The ceremonial robes was her first clue at who it was. Her hair was whiter and the stick she was using as a cane was new to Jules but her green eyes still had the same sparkle they had the last time she saw her, after she left with Vincent. Jules hurried her pace to great her, "Olivia."

"Jules," she waved in return with a huge smile of her own. Once she was close enough the older woman ignored the offered hand and pulled her into a hug that Jules returned. "Welcome back," she said before pulling away to get a better look at her, "Well you have defineitely gotten bigger since the last time I laid eyes on you."

"You still look the same."

"And you obviously learned to lie at some point,' she chuckled as she turned so they could walk to the training ground together. "I am glad you decided to help us with this. People are a little jumpy after things went down."

Jules looked around after they past the gates, all the building looked just the same to her, maybe just a little smaller from her current perspective, but that was only natural. But she did noticed more than a few were trying not to look like they were looking at them or her. Which did raise a particular question that popped in her head while she traveled here. "So what exactly do the others know?"

"Only that some things of importance were stolen," Olivia informed her. She motioned to one building in particular, where here office was located. Jules nodded in understanding, there was less of a chance of someone overhearing them so they could get into a little further detail. A couple of attendants banged their staff on the ground then parted to let them pass. Olivia went to one, Jules just heard her say, "Make sure we're not interrupted."

"Yes ma'am," the guard replied.

As they continued on Olivia commented, "Married life seems to be agreeing with you so far." Jules looked at her strangely, that was not the topic she thought she was going to bring up once they were alone and Jules couldn't see any one else in sight. "Although I am just a tad disappointed you didn't ask me to perform the ceremony."

"I figured you'd be too busy running things here," Jules informed her, which was true. Asking Olivia did cross her mind in the wedding's planning stages. "Also I didn't think you be that comfortable leaving your post." Again it was true, Jules couldn't remember a time when she was here that Olivia left the compound, unless the Senate called for her. "Speaking of married life, why didn't you want Carter coming along?"

"No real or great reason," Olivia said as they reached her office. She opened the door and let Jules in and closed the door when she entered. "Take a seat," Jules tried not to smirk at her choice of words. That was what she usually said when she had to deal with somebody. Not that she had any personal experience with the situation of course. When Jules sat down instead of sitting behind her desk Olivia sat in the chair next to her. "But a Makai Priest more than likely did this and a unknown Knight walking around would draw too much attention to the situation, more than there already is I mean." Again Jules could only nod, seeing her reasoning "Granted people will be looking closer any way with your arrival, but hopefully not as much if a Knight had gotten involved."

"Okay," Jules went as she leaned forward a bit. "Do you know what was taken? Considering how much the person knew about what they took we could be in major trouble sooner rather than later."

"Oh yes I know what was taken," Olivia answered as she leaned back. "As guardian of a forbidden vault I had to know it's contents in case something like this happened. One of them was the Condemned." Jules eyes widen a bit at hearing this name. That was one of the things she helped Vincent research years ago and it still gave her nightmares all these years later whenever she thought about it. Which wasn't often as she tried not to think about that item as much as possible. "Among other things I don't want to think about most of the time.

"This situation went from bad to worse," Jules mumbled as she sat back. "How did they even get into the vault to begin with? It had seals on top of seals, or at least that's what I remember Vincent telling me when I asked him about it."

"It does," Olivia told her, "as do the the containers they're housed in. As for how," she trailed off and looked across the room. Jules followed her gaze to see a table almost hidden in the corner. "I have no idea. Go check for yourself, maybe you'll see something we missed." Jules doubted that but she got up and walked over. Feeling Olivia just watch she approached the table. On that table was a simple open wooden box, with a seal attached to it reached out to touch it, the air around it reacted as soon as she got close.

"What?", she gasp as she pulled her hand back, more from the shock than anything. She pulled out her brush and waved it over the box in a certain motion, magically scanning it as the bristles glowed. She did this several times, there was no way she was reading this right. But she had to face the truth right in front of her. She looked back at Olivia, "The seal is still up?"

"Yes," was all the older woman said as she joined her at the table. "Now it's possible whomever did this could have just put a new seal in place to confuse us, but look at the paper itself." Jules did, it was the standard slip any Makai Priest would use for this type os spell but it was old, at least a couple of decades if she had to take a guess. "I replaced this seal since the old one was losing power, as a vault guardian it is something I have to do on occasion. And this is the same spell I cast back then." Olivia walked away shaking her head slightly, "Which only means one thing."

"The person was able to bypass the seal," Jules said, mind reeling at the thought. Horrors couldn't even bypass a Makai seal. "How is this even possible? I studied a lot of old magic under Vincent and I never came across anything like this."

"Neither have I," Olivia told her, this time sitting behind her desk and starting to look older suddenly. "Which more than likely mean this is either something so old it was forgotten in the sands of time until recently or it's new. And if I had to guess I'd lean towards it being something new. I can't count the number of students that came through here over the years that tried to come up with something completely original." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "I probably should have curtailed such things but I hated to stifle such creativity. I always felt you students learned better that way. Make your own mistakes, figure out what you did wrong."

"Some of us are still doing that," Jules said, thinking of her failure from earlier in the day, "If nothing else it gave me a great foundation for problem solving." Finally she walked away from the table and stood by the desk. "I was told you had a suspect. Is she capable of pulling this off?"

"Her name is Shae," Olivia informed her. "And honestly no, at least not according to the conversations I had with Walter about her before this." Jules tried not to react at hearing his name. If she did Olivia didn't give any indication that she noticed as she went on, "He's always saying he doubted that she would graduate to full Makai Priest status. Which contradicts the young girl all the instructors here were praising to no end before hand."

She was trying really hard to keep her previous interaction with Walter from coloring her judgement of the situation. "Maybe she hit a bump she can't figure out how to get past," she ended up saying. "Or can properly explain to her mentor so he could help her. I know I've seen it a couple of times when I was here."

"Or her mentor isn't capable enough to help her past that bump." Jules was so glad Olivia said that and not her.

"Can I speak with her?", Jules asked.

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Olivia said. "I know you had a bit of a journey and might want to rest for a moment. But I want to get this settled one way or another as soon as possible." Jules looked back at the box on the table. If something like the Condemned was out then the sooner they figured out what was actually going on the better it was going to be for everybody.

* * *

In a barren room somewhere underground the trainee known as Shae sat on a a plain wooden chair, the only piece of furniture in the room and looked at her hands. And the magical bonds keeping them locked together. It had been hours since her mentor Walter had locked her in this room. She thought it was hours, it felt like it at least. There were no other way to tell time in here, not even a window to track the light's movement. The only source of light was the small orb Olivia had created before they left her in the room. And the only the sounds of Walter on the other side of the door yelling at her to confess and others taunting her with threats was the only indication that they were other people occasoinally in the corridor.

She looked up through her dark hair as she thought she heard the door unlock. Briefly she wondered if those voices were going to follow through with those threats. And braced herself for the attack. Instead Olivia walked in, with another Makai Priest she'd never seen before right behind her. "Shae this is Jules," Olivia said as she closed the door after they entered. Shae looked up at her briefly before looking back down. Another one who wants to blame her for this, perfect.

This Jules walked forward and knelt down to try and face her. Then she looked back at Olivia saying, "Can I talk to her alone?"

"Of course Jules," Olivia said after a bit, "I'll be in my office when you're done." Jules didn't react until after she was gone for a bit then she took out her Madou brush and aimed it at the orb, performing a quick spell. Shae looked up as the orb started to grow brighter.

"That's better," she said as she looked at her. Then she frowned as she noticed how her wrist were bound. "Now that doesn't look comfortable at all, I'm surprised Olivia let this happened." Again she performed another quick spell and her bindings faded away. "There you go, that's has to feel better."

Rubbing her wrist Shae said a small, "Thank you."

Still she kept her head down, until Jules put a hand under her chin and gently lifted her head up to look at her. She smiled as she studied her, "Don't worry I'm not Walter."

"Why," she said as she removed her hand "why are you here?"

"That's a fair question," Jules told her. "Olivia asked me to look over the case, make sure things are how they seem." Shae lowered her head again, she was right, another one who thought she was guilty. "I just looking for the truth," Jules said apparently sensing her darkening thoughts. "If it turns out you're innocent of this, and considering how Walter tends to view things were guilt and innocence is concerned that might be likely." Shae looked at her, was she telling the truth? Did she not automatically assumed she was guilty like Walter and everyone else? No, this had to be a trick. "I'll make sure you're set free, you have my word on that. But I do need you to be honest with me about what's going on. Can you do that for me?" Not sure what else to do Shae just nodded, and she was afraid to do that. "Okay I'm going to believe you. Do yourself a favor and don't break that trust, I can be your best friend but I can be you're worst enemy if it came down to it." She looked around the room studying things, "Have they fed you yet? I haven't eaten since breakfast myself. How about I get us something to eat before we start."

Okay," she softly said.

Before Jules responded there was a new voice on the other side of the door, "It's going to be any time now. There going to look away at the wrong time and then you're going to get yours." Shae could only watch as Jules got this look on her face as she stood and marched toward the door. Opening it she quickly pulled a very startled and frightened female trainee into the room. It was the first time she seen one of her tormentors since she'd been in here. The fact she knew this one, she was kind enough before this or so she thought that she was too shocked to feel anything at this particular reveal.

Forcing her against the wall Jules just stared her down, "Pretty tough behind that door aren't you?", she said evenly. "I want you to get one thing straight, if anything happens to Shae here while I'm here, I'm not even going to care if it wasn't you, you're going to be the one I'll hold responsible, am I clear?" She quickly nodded her head. "Good. Now you tell that to any one else stupid enough to do what you just did and that's she's under my protection while the investigation is going on. Go on,"she said pushing her back toward the door, "start telling people." She hurried out the room."

Jules closed the door, held her head down a bit then looked at her, "Has that been going on the whole time?" she asked. When she nodded, Jules had this look of disgust on her face, "Have you told Walter about this?"

"He told me to stop lying to change the focus of people's attention," she said, with a little stronger voice, finally starting to believe she actually might believe her.

"Of course he did," again Jules looked disgusted. Then she finally started smiling again, "I have some experience being in his cross hairs as well. Look I'm going to talk to Olivia, and see if I can make that claim about you being under my protection actually true before grabbing us some food. I'm going to have to leave you in her for now, I'll try not to be gone long."

"All right," Shae said as he held her hands out to get them rebound.

Jules put a hand on hers to lower them, "That won't be necessary. Just try and relax and tell me if any one didn't get that message I just gave the other one." She started to leave then quickly turned back around, "And if you hear Walter screaming and hollering then Olivia granted my request." She smiled, despite herself Shae smiled too. "You should really smile more, you're much cuter when you smile." Then she left her on her own again.

But this time as she looked up at the orb, she didn't dim it like Walter probably would have seeing how he complained about it when Olivia first cast it, she actually started to feel a little bit of hope in this situation.

* * *

"This is completely unacceptable!", a voice bellowed from behind Olivia's door. If Jules had to take a wild guess Walter just found out about her getting involved. She paused a second before reaching for the doorknob. She knew she couldn't avoid him the entire time she was hear, and kind of figured he would be upset that Olivia had called her in. She had to to remind herself that she faced down Horrors alone that were worse than the angry man shouting from behind the door. Finally opening the door she heard him say, "I almost got her to...," he stopped when she walked in. "Oh it's you traitor."

"And you wonder why she brought me in," Jules shot back. Ignoring the glare Walter was giving her Jules focused on Olivia. "You might want to have a discussion with the students here. They been threatening Shae."

"You would believe her lies," Walter cut in.

"One was making the threat while I was in the room with her." She was proud of herself from stopping just shy of ending that sentence with you big moron. "I warned her off but considering the attitude of some people around here,' she looked directly at Walter before continuing, "I'm worried she might be harmed physically before this is over."

"That is hard to believe," Olivia said as she leaned back in her chair. "But like I told you earlier things have been a tad jumpy around here after Shae was taken into custody. So it doesn't surprise me."

"Unbelievable," Walter grumbled.

This time she couldn't help herself, Jules looked right at him as she said, "Somebody needs to think about her safety in all of this." Looking at Olivia she said, "So I'm requesting that she be placed in my care while I'm investigating the situation."

Olivia didn't respond right away, although she did glance at Walter every so often as she thought it over. So did she figuring he would have began protesting even before she was finished speaking. But she didn't try to egg him on either, she knew Olivia well enough to know that would go against her request. Eventually Olivia leaned forward a bit, she made her decision. "Walter, Shae is your trainee," he started looking smug, and she resisted the urge to punch him in the face. "But even though she's currently the only suspect we have in the matter we need to make sure nothing befalls her before the triuh is discovered. Given the circumstances I'm authorizing Jules' request. Shae's all yours until this is over."

Again she was proud of herself for not outwardly celebrating this little victory. But if anybody could've read her mind right then, well that would have been a different story. Walter on the other hand literally snarled right before storming out of there, Slamming the door behind him. "Well that went well," She said, trying to lighten some of the tension that was still in the air. Olivia did smirk slightly before getting serious again.

"I hope you know what you're getting into," she told her. So did she truth be told. And although she had been ignoring one particular question that had been floating around in her head, after what just happened Jules just had to ask it out loud.

"I just have one question though, why assign Shae to him?", she said pointing at the door. "And yes my past experience with him is one of the reasons why I'm asking." Olivia seemed to appreciate her sudden burst of honesty about the situation.

"It was because I thought they could help each other in a way," was her answer. Confused Jules took a seat and waited for her to continue. "As long as she'd been here Shae was never the most out going child, Something you wouldn't know about of course,' she added making a joke of her own. Not being able to disagree with that particular statement Jules just smirked and kept silent. "And seeing how Walter has never been all that shy about his opinions I was hoping some of that would rub off on her, in a good way. With Walter I was hoping that he finally get past that attitude he had when he first came into the Order. I'm sure you've experienced it, I doubt he be this rough with her if Shae was a male student."

A couple of things about her last statement caught her attention and she wanted to ask about both of them at the same time. But that was just going to confuse things in her mind so she started with the first one that caught her attention, "What do you mean 'came into the Order'?"

Olivia let out a tired sigh as she leaned back into the chair, obviously that was something she didn't want to get out. Looking past her toward the door it was a moment before she focused on her again. "His family wasn't part of the Order Jules. He came to us after his parents were eaten by Horrors by the Priest who helped fight it off. He was fifteen at the time," she said staring off into space looking thoughtful.

"Well that explains a lot," Jules said, although not meaning to say that thought out loud. Given his age he was already set in his ways by the time he started training. And given how everyone on the Makai Priest side of thing treated every one else as equals in her experience that attitude had to have been imprinted on him while he was still growing up. "And nobody thought to work with him to get past that attitude while he was training?"

"Because he was very good at hiding it," Olivia told her. "Nobody noticed, he was always so respectful of the female staff while he was training. It wasn't until he left here that it came back out. After he was assigned her as an instructor, over a lot of the Priests' here objections, I was hoping that teaming him with someone like Shae would help him finally get him past that." Offering a small smile she went on, "Obviously I made a not so small mistake." If she was expecting her to say something she hide her surprise well as Jules held her tongue.

"God only knows what that did to Shae," she did end up saying, which was just as bad as commenting on how big of a mistake Olivia's decision was. In fact it was pretty much was commenting exactly how much of a mistake she thought that was. Realizing this she quickly added, "I didn't mean any disrespect Olivia."

Olivia held up a hand to stop her, "It's a thought I've had more than once after I realized Walter's attitude so I really can't call you on it, no matter how much I want to." She looked thoughtful again as she stared past her. "Can I ask a not so small favor from you?" Jules nodded a yes and listened. "I'm not sure how much of a issue it's going to be but could you try and undo whatever damage Walter might have done while you're looking over the situation. If she is innocent I want to try and help get back to where she was before Walter became her mentor."

Jules was taken back about the sudden request. And a little worried about what would happen after the investigation was over and she left to go back to her usual job and Carter. She had a no problem with helping Shae if she could but if she was just going to go back with Walter then what was the point. But she knew that she had to help the girl if she could, help her discover her backbone if nothing else. "I'll do what I can," she told Olivia.

The older woman smiled and said, "That's all that I ask. Let me worry about Walter in the mean time." Jules winced internally, was she that obvious? "If she improves under you, even if it's just a little then I'll have enough reason to separate the two of them." Now she understood the request, Olivia mentioned that Shae had taken a bit of a down turn since being tutored by Walter, she was looking for any reason to justify her theory and still save some face.

"I just need to know what kind of restriction she's going to be under in the mean time," Jules said. She still wasn't sure if Shae was truly innocent or not at this point. Given how she never suspected what Vincent was planning the previous year and never caught on she admittedly probably wasn't the best person to judge somebody's character on the first meeting. So she didn't want to accidentally give some one capable of bypassing a seal free range. "And I did sort of tell her that I'd get us something to eat after I was done talking with you."

Nodding Olivia rose from her seat and started to walk her to the door, "Of course. We're not barbarians after all. If we had any other place to put her beside those lower cells then that's where she'd be right now. Go get the two of you some food. I'll get you those restriction after you're finished."


	4. Chapter 3

Once Jules got to the dining area she immediately wanted to know when the food got better. When she was here in her younger days it was pretty much a gruel type slop, one that was supposedly highly nutritious but it was still a dark grey slop in her memory, not to mention borderline tasteless. And the taste you could get wasn't all that great. On special occasions it was a light brown, the taste didn't change one bit, but it made it seem a little more special. Walking with two plates of food that actually looked like food in her hands and her arm weaved around a spare chair she found, she was not going to sit on that floor and eat. It was an interesting balancing act, but she pulled it off. Even opening the door to the room Shae was confined to without spilling anything. So they sat there in the room and mainly talked while they ate, Jules was trying to get a better read on the young girl, who had to be fourteen at the most, she would have to remember to ask Olivia or somebody else who wasn't Walter about it.

But she did seem happier, not in the getting away with it way, more in the relieved that someone seemed to believe her claims of innocence sort of way. And having dealt with her mentor she couldn't exactly blame the girl. Jules made a mental note to ask the other instructors around here about what she was like before being paired up with Walter. "So you're from a family of Makai Priest too?", she asked after swallowing a bit of her lunch.

"Yes ma'am," She answered as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Father always said my grandfather worked for the Senate. But I can't find any proof of that in the family records."

Tilting her head a bit Jules asked, "Why wouldn't you believe that he worked for the Senate? If any of my family worked for the Senate I'd be proud as hell."

"He also claimed he lifted a Knights sword without any training what so ever," Shae added.

"Ah," Jules said in understanding. "He's the exaggerting type I see." Shae just nodded. "There's one in every family I suppose. I have a cousin like that. Fortunately he lived really far away so I didn't have to deal with it all that often, because I would have gotten in trouble for beating him up to get him to shut up. You on the other hand," she shook her head, but she was still studying her, particularly the way she kept pulling at the hem of her dress. Like she wasn't used to wearing one. Boy had she been there growing up "Was there something special going on that you needed to get dressed up for?" Shae looked like she started to shrink up a bit, that wasn't going to work for her, she just got Shae to open up a little Jules was not going to let her back track now. "Trying to impress one of the boys around here?"

"No, Shae said quickly, but Jules did catch the hint of a smile cross her face momentarily.

"Oh there's somebody around here that caught your eye all right." Sitting her plate on the floor Jules watched her, "When I was here most of the girls your age had eyes on the young Knights training across the way." She was definitely blushing right now. "Aha, I knew it, you got a crush," Jules teased her with a grin. Seeing how embarrassed she was getting Jules decided to pull back on the teasing, for now any way. "Hey there's nothing wrong with it, I married a Knight after all, "And even though it's only been a few hours she was missing that particular Knight already. "But there wasn't much intermingling between the two camps when I was here.," she said after she thought about it for a bit. "Somehow I doubt Olivia and her counterpart in the Knight's camp have gotten all that lenient since then, so why the dress?"

Shae was hesitant to answer, but Jules just waited until she was ready to answer. "Walter said this was how a young lady was supposed to dress." Hearing that Jules immediately pinched the bridge of her nose, if true, she didn't fully realize how deep his idiocy went. "Are you okay?", Shae asked.

She offered her a small smile, "Just trying to decide if the thoughts of hurting him in the ways I'm imaging is going to lead me to darkness or not. Not the first time I asked myself that, believe me. And not just about Walter either. I mean I just learned something about him that makes what you said make perfect sense but still." Gathering her plate she stood and placed it on the plate on the chair.

"Where are you going?", Shae asked.

"You're room," Jules told her, "I'm going through your stuff to see I I can figure out who your crush is." Shae immediately looked mortified. "I'm joking, I'm joking. But I am going through your closest and figure out what you usually wear. I'm going to need you to feel like yourself if we're going to get to the bottom of this." Shae still didn't look happy with her privacy being violated but seemed happier with her actual goal.

"Okay," she said.

"And I want you moving around a little," she told her as Jules pulled her to her feet, "I mean it, I don't want to see you in either of these chairs when I get back. You're not bound to it." She reached out for the door, "Oh and make sure no one touches my plate I'm not finished with it yet."

"Yes ma'am," she said again. This time Jules was sure it was a automatic response. She remembered saying it to the instructors around here when she was younger.

"And just stick to Jules if you'd please," She told her. "I'm not old enough to be a 'ma'am' yet." She didn't wait for a response as she left the room.

* * *

It took a little snooping but she found where Shae was living at while she was learning here. It was pretty much the same when she was there, a dorm like structure made out of wood with rooms that usually housed more than one trainee. So hopefully she had a room mate that could help identify her usual outfit. And if there were close maybe get someone else's take on Shae. See what she was like with out a proper adult around. Finding the room in question she knocked lightly, wanting to see if there was any one in there before walking in. "Who's there?', somebody called out. Hopefully she was a talker and wouldn't need much convincing that she was on Shae's side in all of this.

"My names is Jules," she replied. Okay now where did she go from here? Well she might as well go with the first reason why she came here, "I'm getting some clothes for Shae to change into." There was some quick footsteps right before the door flung open, fortunrtely inwards. Jules wasn't sure she could have gotten out of the way in time to avoid getting clocked in the head.

She looked at another trainee, maybe roughly around Shae's age with red hair. Jules couldn't help but noticed at how suspicious she was looking at her. "You're going to let her get out of that outfit her mentor is making her wear?"

"As fast as I can." Jules told her. "And I'm hoping you have a better idea of her usual style, so that would be a huge help." She did seem surprised at her request. But she still stood in the doorway blocking her entry. "Be a bigger help if I could come in."

"Just because you didn't barge in like her current mentor does," she said as she stepped aside to let her took a quick glance around as she stepped through the door. The room itself looked like only one person lived in here. One side while not exactly sloppy did have that lived in look that her old dorm did. The other side was pretty much immaculate. The only thing that gave away that anyone was using it was the clothes in the closet and a couple of personal items carefully arranged on the desk. "I've never seen you around here before."

Now came the tricky part. "That's because Olivia asked me to come look over the situation Shae got caught up in." It looked like she was going to shut down on here, exactly what she didn't want to happen. " Look I'm going to tell you what I told Shae. If she's innocent..."

"She is innocent," she insisted. Okay they were definitely friendly at could be a help in the long run.

Jules continued, "Then I will do everything I can to get her out of this mess and get the person who actually did it. Both of you have my word on that. And I need you to be truthful with me too. Any lie, even if you think it's going to help Shae, might make her situation worse. What's she being accused of, well it's more serious than you might think. So please work with me. I'm sorry I never got a name."

"Nadia," she said after a moment. Then she added, "You're not going to treat her like that creep does?"

That question about certain thoughts leading her to darkness popped in her head again. And she didn't even want to ask for clarification on what she meant by that. "I wouldn't even treat my worst enemy like that. And considering that's the same guy you're talking about should say something." Nadia smiled slightly as she headed for the closest on the immaculate side of the room and started going it. "I'm just guessing this is Shae's side of the room? And she always keeps it this tidy?"

"That it would, and yes she does.," Nadia told her as she started pulling various bits of clothes from the closet and putting them on the bed. Jules looked at that side of the room, that was what she was afraid of. If Shae was this meticulous about her belongings then she could be capable of coming up with what ever spell was used to get past a barrier. Because something like that took the type of dedication she was seeing right now. Okay it was more than likely Shae wasn't the only person here who was this much of a neat freak. It was time to test something out. "Let's say I moved something, just a little, Do you think she'd notice?"

Stopping going through Shae's closet Nadia looked at her, like she was trying to decide if she was looking for things to pin the thefts on her roommate. Quickly thinking Jules told her, "Because every time I see a desk this organized I just want to mess with it and see how annoyed the person gets." It was true enough to a certain extent, She did want to mess the person who was this neat. Nadia still stared at her intently.

"It depends on how much you moved it," she ended up saying apparently believing her reason for the moment as she returned the the closet."Actually I was playing a little game for a while after we were roomed together those first couple of weeks, just to see what she would notice. And if she got annoyed she kept it to herself."

"Seriously, she didn't look annoyed at all?"

"Well," she started then hesitated. Jules silently willed her to be honest but didn't push it wanting the information to come out freely. It still took Nadia a couple of seconds to finish what ever thought she started. "Well those times she did notice she'd look at me, although I made sure my head was always busy looking at something, a book, a scroll my group was assigned to study and try and decipher."

"They still do that?" she scrunched up her nose a bit. "I hated that exercise. You had to figure out everything out from scratch and if you missed one little mean nothing thing the instructor would look at you like you insulted his mother." Apparently sensing a bit of a kindred spirit where that particular assignment lay Nadia stepped a little closer as she began laying out the clothes she finally settled on, a dark dress shirt. Some knee length pant, then she started looking for some accessories..

"As I was saying Shae would let out this breath," she did an imitation of said breath, "Kind of like that. But she wouldn't readjust anything, just leave it like it was." Okay she wasn't that much of a neat freak then. "It stopped being fun after the first couple of times since she wasn't reacting any more, honestly I think she was surprised when she noticed I stopped. Jules you got to believe me, Shae isn't capable of doing whatever it is they're saying she did. She doesn't have an evil bone in her body."

Jules wanted to believe that, it went with the image she painted of the girl in her head after she first talked to her. Unfortunately she knew first hand that no matter how well you thought you know a person they could act in a way you never imagined they were capable of. Then the door burst open with a slam. Jules already had her madou brush in her hand and pointed at the intruder. She just looked at Walter as he stood there looking so smug and superior. In the back of her mind she realized she should lower her brush considering he was a quote unquote friendly, but her arm wasn't moving. "Finally going to prove me right traitor." he sneered.

Nadia got her wits back first as she walked around Jules and tried to get in his face. "You have no right to barge in here whenever you want..."

Walter pushed her out of the way only to be stopped by Jules pointing her brush at his chest. He looked surprised at first, then annoyed as she started to move him back. "She's right, this is a private room and off limits to the likes of you. So kindly turn around and leave before I make you leave. What if she was getting dressed?"

"It would serve her right walking around like a slut. And you better be careful before I start digging into any involvement you might have had in this." Finally moving her brush Jules kicked him in the gut to force him closer to the door. "This is my crime scene!:, he snapped at her Jules who was less than impressed with the display. "I have every right to be in here!"

Eyes narrowing she coolly told him, "Not any more it's not. Now leave before before I make Olivia cross with me."

"You're Knight's not here to protect you this time," he tried to tower over her, to seem more imposing. She faced Horrors with sharper teeth then this idiot. Why was she so worried about running into him earlier?

He didn't even hide his shock as not only didn't she not back down, she was imposing her will on the situation, backing him either further away from Nadia. "Let's get one thing perfectly clear. That day you guys took me to be questioned," she smiled a predator smile, unnerving him even more, "I wasn't the one he was protecting. Now get out of here."

"Did you even see where I found the evidence that pointed toward that little tramp?", he looked down as she cracked the knuckles on her right hand.

"Her name is Shae," she said sternly. "I suggest you remember that for the future." She finally stepped back and looked around the room, "Okay where was this oh so damning evidence that pointed toward her?"

He started looking smug again as he pointed right at the desk on her side of the room. Jules immediately walked over and started opening drawers trying to see if there was any indication oh a secret panel or something. "No," he bellowed right there sd he pointed at the desk, no he was pointing at the top. Jules started pushing on various spots trying to trigger a hidden panel "No you dumb," a sharp look from her quieted him for the moment. Then he reached past her and started tapping a particular section over, "Right here."

Jules was dumbfounded, and couldn't hide it making Walter look superior again. She looked over at Nadia, "It was out in the open?"

"Right there," although she looked sick to admit it out loud. Jules looked around the room, again taking a look at how immaculate Shae kept her side of things

"Tell me Walter," she said addressing him, obviously confused she wasn't immediately apologizing for being proven wrong or something, "was that door locked when you discovered whatever it was you found.

"What does that have anything to do with it?", he demanded.

She pushed past him and and opened the door, making sure to show him the doorknob , "There's no locks. They never had any. And of course it never occurred to you that just any one could have placed what ever it was you found there, probably expecting for you to act just like this."

"It was her desk!" he kept on insisting. Now Jules was starting to wonder how Olivia let him get away with how he was treating her on something so flimsy. They were going to have to talk about that, later.

Right now she had something more important to take care of. Turning to Nadia Jules told her, "Gather up those clothes and take them to Shae. I'm going to speak with Olivia."

"About what traitor?", he demanded as he stood in her way. Right now Jules didn't care about playing nice for Olivia's sake. She dropped him with a well placed knee to the crotch. Once he was down in pain she stepped over him not even pretending she didn't enjoy every bit of that and stalked to Olivia's office trying to remain calm. Which was going to be hard to do considering how Shae was being treated.

* * *

Getting into her own clothes never felt so good. Shae was surprised when Nadia knocked on the door with a set of clothes in hand. And on Jules' say so. She wasn't sure what to make of this but anything to get out of the dress Walter was making her wear. Adjusting the headband to keep her hair out of her eyes she stretched out she looked over at Nadia who was keeping an eye on the door. So far nobody had come by to make another threat, and while Shae was sure Jules would have believed her, it was good to have somebody hear them if they did. "You messed up my closest didn't you?"

"Hey," Nadia protested, "I picked out that outfit very carefully, thank you very much". Looking away she added, "Now the pile on your bed however", she trailed off. Shae let out a breath, that Nadia smiled at for some reason.

"But thank you though," Shae told her, "I couldn't get out of that enough." she looked at the dress that was thrown on the ground.

"I've noticed," Nadia said, "You usually fold it up neatly when you'd take it off at night."

"Is it wrong I want to burn it?", she asked as she stepped closer to her friend.

"I'm surprised you haven't done it already," she said.

Both of them looked at the door as it opened. Shae was worried that it was going to be Walter and went to retrieve the dress from the ground and try to straighten it out. Nadia knew her well enough that she grabbed her wrist and held her in place. Then Jules walked through the door much to her relief. She looked her up and down, nodded and said. "I don't even have to ask about how much better you have to feel. I can see it already."

"Did you already talk with Olivia?" Shae asked.

"Yes," Jules said as moved the plate that she put on the chair she brought in and took a seat. "And I have some good news, and some not so good news."

Shae and Nadia just looked at each other before Nadia went, "Isn't that suppose to be good news and bad news?"

"Well that's going to depend on how you feel about me," she said. Shae was still confused at what she was talking about. "Let's start with the good news, You can get out of here." Shae immediately hugged Nadia who returned it.

"What's the not so good news?", she asked Jules.

"Well, unfortunately you can't leave my side while I'm here investigating things. For the most part, I still have to figure out what's going on, and my usual sidekick was asked not to come. So you'll be supervised by somebody who's not Walter. I made sure of that." .

What?!", Shae protested.

"That's not fair," Nadia quickly agreed. Jules put up a hand to get them to calm down a bit. Shae wanted to argue but she'd listen to Jules first.

"Look I understand but Olivia insisted that be restriction on letting you free from this room. And it's for the same reason why you were put in here to begin with."

"Walter wanted me in here," Shae quickly said.

"No it's not," Jules said as she protested again. She waited until Shae got it out of her system. "I was giving Olivia an earful about it when she told me why. Walter's the only one who automatically thought you did it. But Olivia was afraid the person who did do it might try to incriminate you even more or do something to you personally. So she put you in here for your own good, it stinks I know but I couldn't really disagree with her reasoning after hearing it."

"She could have told me," Shar muttered. Jules reached out and rubbed her arm.

"Do you hear me disagreeing," she said. "But according to her Walter was always hovering around so she couldn't get a chance to explain. I think she meant he wouldn't shut up long enough but I could be wrong." Jules said it with a smile, Despite how unfair the situation was Shae snickered a little.

Nadia on the other hand. " But you cleared her."

"She's not cleared yet," Jules told them. "I just proved Olivia's theory that it could have been planted at best. In fact I pretty much increased the suspect pool to any one who could get access to her desk."

"Wait?", Nadia went, "I'm a suspect now?"

"Nadia wouldn't do that to me," Shae started to say.

"Nobody's a suspect," Jules told them as she stood up. "At least not officially. Like I said, anybody who could get access to Shae's desk needs to be looked at, so at least everybody in that dorm. Walter, and I wish I could be there when he finds that out, all the mentors and instructors.. No, I just made Olivia's headache that much worse."

"But Shae can leave this room now right? Nadia asked.

"As soon as she's ready," Jules answered. "Actually I'm surprised she's still here. I thought she'd be gone the moment I said she could leave. But before I forget there's something else. I was able to convince Olivia to to let you practice again."

"And the not so good news?", Shae asked cautiously.

"You catch on quick," Jules told her with a grin.. Shae noticed she wasn't saying she was wrong either. "Until things are straightened out you can't be in your regular practice group, and considering you've been threatened, I really couldn't come up with a good argument against it." Shae sighed, deep down she knew Jules was probably right, still didn't mean she had to like it. "So I'm suppose to work with you when I can. And I'm also supposed to be mindful of this," reaching into a pocket Shae's eye widen a little as she pulled out her brush. It took a second but Shae did realize she wasn't exactly handing it back to her. "The catch is you can use it for your practice sessions, but I have to hold on to it when you're not."

"That's not fair," Shae protested. That was her property, nobody had the right to keep it from her.

Jules just softly said, "No it's not. But I promise you, as soon as we prove to the others that you didn't do this I'll give this back to you, until then I'll keep it safe for you."

She looked at the older woman as she pocketed her brush. She wanted to believe that she'd be true to her word and hand the brush back to her, but she wanted to believe Walter would believe her too. Look at how that turned out. Jules seemed to understand what was going through her head, "It sucks, I know. My mentor once explained to me that while the Knights have their swords, we have the brush and it's pretty much an extension of who we are. So if I want to give this back to you I better get on the case and find out who actually did it and tried to frame you, badly I might add."

"So you think I didn't do it now?", Shae asked. Probably not sounding as hopeful as she should have that somebody finally seemed to believe her.

"I saw your room," was all she said. "No one as neat as you would leave any sort of evidence out in the open like Walter claimed. What you were keeping it in, maybe but not the item itself." Reaching down Jules grabbed the last bit of a sandwich that was on her plate and popped it in her mouth. "Now come on, the person responsible is not going to catch themselves." She opened the door and let Shae go out first. She was unsure, looking to see if there was going to be anybody right outside the door that would push her back in. But the only push came from Nadia and Jules, out the door.

"What about the dress?", Shae asked suddenly. Why did she ask about that stupid thing? She just wanted to burn it and never see it again. Instead of answering Jules looked at the dress and pulled out her brush. Making a quick motion she sent out a blast the set the dress on fire.

"Wow," Nadia said in disbelief that she just saw that. Shae joined her in that amazement, The two of them watch the dress burn as Jules put her brush back in it's place inside her coat. That was the last thing she thought was going to happen, even if she just wished for it.

Jules looked at them and with a grin and a wink said, "If anybody asks a Horror did it." Then she closed the door behind her, leaving the burning garment and guided her and Nadia to the outside.


	5. Chapter 4

This could be both good and bad. That girl was the perfect patsy to try and place the blame on, she kept mainly to herself, hardly had any friends to speak of outside of her roommate, and had an idiot for a mentor. When Olivia listened to Walter and placed her in the underground holding rooms things were in the clear. While everybody was focused on her then no body would be looking as those pieces from that vault were taken out of the training ground. There were already several buyers lined up, the pieces just needed to get there then the money would be rolling in.

Then word got out the Olivia had sent for a former student to take over the investigation. One according to rumors actually hunted down Horrors like a Knight. That meant she had a better eye for detail than Walter would have. Considering her and the girl and another one were walking out into the open she probably already figured that she was a patsy in all of this.

But while that patsy was apparently off the board, things weren't going to get planted on or around her while that Priest was around, all wasn't lost just yet. The pieces could still be moved, just a little more carefully. Some of the students were easily riled up enough to make threats against the girl earlier. It shouldn't take that much to get them to go after her again. And while the outsider was dealing with that then she wouldn't be looking for the pieces, or the person who took them.

* * *

After a little discussion Jules finally got Nadia to go back to her training session. The job she was called in for was going to be hard enough as it was. She didn't need somebody else following her around, especially since she had to check out the actually crime scene, and for that she had to see the vault. And it was going to be tricky enough with Shae having to be at her side. A second teenager, even one Jules had to silently admit seemed familiar, maybe a little too familiar in some cases. But Nadia did agree to go on, but only if she was kept informed on getting Shae fully in the clear. Jules agreed seeing how she was going to let her know any way seeing how close the two of them where, And that's if Shae didn't tell her friend first.

But it was just the two of them as they walked into Olivia's office. The older woman immediately got out of her chair and went straight toward Shae, taking her hand, "I'm so sorry I had to put you down there, I should have found a way to let you know my reasoning before now."

"It's okay," Shae told, Studying her a bit Jules had a feeling that it wasn't exactly 'okay' but she didn't want to make a fuss in front of the head of the training ground. Olivia apparently saw it as well, then shot a look toward her. Jules had seen it before, the "Why can't you act more like that?' sort of look she'd seen from various instructors and mentors while training here. Obviously in response to the earful she was giving her not that long ago. And much like when she was younger Jules paid it no attention, besides she wasn't a student here any more. Going on Shae said, "Jules told me why you did it."

"It still doesn't make it right," Olivia told her.

"She has time to make it up to you later," Jules said. "But we have more pressing matters to attend to." Olivia looked at her for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"You're right of course, it is the main reason why I asked you to come." She turned to the young woman in front of her, "Shae, I need you to stay in here for a bit. Jules and I need to discuss some things that's not meant for your ears."

Shae surprised both of them by going, "Is it about whatever vault I was supposed to have broken into? Can I see it?" Jules and Olivia looked at each other while she waited for a response. Apparently getting impatiant she went on, "Walter said I stole from this vault, I'd like to see exactly what I was accused of stealing from."

Jules quickly stepped up to her, "Walter told you about the vault?"

"Ask Nadia," she quickly told her. "She was there when he first accused me." Jules thought this over, Nadia did see where Walter's "proof" was so she had to have been there.

She glanced over at Olivia, "Walter knew about the vault?"

"I didn't tell him exactly what it was," she said as she tried to defend her actions. "He knew somethings were taken from it but that was about it. I was worried when there were more rumors about a vault floating around than usual. I was really hoping he wasn't the source."

"Well," Jules said after a bit. "I was going to ask who else knew about it, I think a better question is who hasn't Walter told about it yet?" That just made things that much harder. Before she would have just paid some extra attention to the people around her and see if somebody slipped up and mentioned the vault when they weren't supposed to know about it. Now with the word apparently out that flimsy plan was just shot out the window. Well it was a lousy initial plan any way.

Then she looked at Shae who was still waiting for an answer. "I was about her age when I found out about it," Jules said, "but it's your call Olivia."

The older woman sighed briefly as she thought it over. "Normally I's say no but the damage is already done I suppose, and it would be easier than explaining why we left her alone in here when she's supposed to stay by your side." Shae looked like she wanted to celebrate but was mature enough not to, at least in front of Olivia.

Still Jules felt the need to pull her to the side for a moment to have a slightly private conversation. "Shae this may seem exciting and all, but I need you to understand one thing. You can not tell any one about what we're going to show you. I mean it, you can't tell your family, Nadia, anybody. Promise me you won't tell anyone."

She didn't respond right away, which Jules took as a good thing since it meant she was thinking about it and would probably be more likely to keep her word if she gave it. But she finally said, "I won't tell anybody,"

Olivia sighed again, "Well now that's that apparently settled let's get going. I suppose you remember the way," she said to Jules.

"You're more familiar with it location than I am," she said. Which was true, Jules only found out about it because her curoisty got the better of her. And while she could probably lead the way if given enough time she never found out how to open the way to get just nodded again and lead them out of her office. Shae started for the main entrance before Jules made her go the other way. The walked the halls until they reached an apparent dead end. Olivia walked up to the wall then looked back at them. Getting the message Jules indicated to Shae that they should turn away for a moment. They only turned back around when they heard a click and part of the wall was gone revealing a hidden passage way. "Later," Jules said reading the question in Shae's face.

"They're with me," Olivia said to apparently no one. Then a couple of guards, which was one more than Jules remembered being there originally, the second one must have been put in placed after she followed Vincent and Olivia, these carrying spear like weapons, came forwards from some hidden alcoves in the dirt walls which caused Shae to jump slightly they appeared so suddenly. Still the guards stared at them as they passed, almost like they were looking for a reason to do anything. And considering things were stolen from the vault under their watch Jules couldn't exactly blame them for acting this way.

After a few yards Jules finally spoke up, but still soft enough that her voice wouldn't carry back to their ears, "I'm assuming that you questioned all the guards after you discovered it happened."

Olivia nodded and kept her voice just as soft, "It was the first thing that I did. Nobody is sure how who ever did it got in here, I don't even know how they discovered it to begin with." The frustration was evident in her voice. The location of the forbidden vaults were some of the most closely guarded secrets in the entire Makai Order. Which made this one hell of an inside job.

"Okay you can ask that question now," Jules said to Shae. She was practically bursting at the seams at this point.

""What is down here?" Shae asked, trying to keep her voice down as well and barely succeeding. Olivia looked back at her and again the meaning of that look she was currently giving her meant it was all on her.

"A Forbidden Vault," she told her, figuring it was better to just get it pout of the way than just sugar coat it or beat around the bush. Shae's eyes widen slightly, okay she at least heard of them so she didn't need to explain any further. "Now do you see why I said you couldn't tell anybody?"

"You can't be serious," she ended up saying. Then they got to the main vault chamber and her eyes went bigger as she got her first look at the Vault, a big wooden and steel door with various protective seals adorning it. It was just like she remembered the room as she walked up to it while still keeping her distance, even how musty the air was. "You are serious," Shae who stropped in her tracks almost as she saw it said with some reverence.

"Trust me kiddo I wish I was joking," Jules told her as she scanned the door, she knew Olivia would have done it already but part of her still wanted to see if she could how figure out how it was done. So far she wasn't having any luck. Olivia's, who seemed to be doing the same thing, shoulders just sank a little as she surveyed the scene for only she knew how many times at this point. "Normally I'd asked when it happened but I think I better ask when did you notice items were missing?"

"A few days ago," she eventually admitted, "When I was doing some routine checking on some of the seals on the objects inside. I should have said something then but since I was this vault's guardian I was stubborn enough to try and handle the situation by myself."

Giving her a smile as she started examining the vault Jules said, "Happens to the best of us." Then she returned her attention the room itself as she walked around. "Assuming none of the guards was part of this how did you get in?", Jules asked nobody in particular. Looking back at Shae, and figuring if she was supposed to try and undo some of the damage Walter did to her, she asked, "What do you think Shae? You got any ideas on how somebody got in here without being seen entering or leaving?"

"I got no idea," she admitted.

"Come on," Jules said, "You're young and bright, at least one idea had to have crossed your mind."

"Outside of they might have dug a tunnel I got no idea."

"We checked for that," Olivia told them. "we couldn't find any sort of magical talisman any where, in here or in the Vault."

Jules held out a hand as she slowly walked along the rocky walls of the room. "As a Madou Pin I'm particularly fond of once told me, if you want to hide something from magic users you wouldn't use...," she stopped at a particular spot," magic." She kept her hand over a certain section just making sure she wasn't imagining anything. There it was again, a slight breeze coming from the wall. Taking out her Madou Brush she tapped the non bristle end around the area a few times. It might have been her imagination but some spots sounded a little more hollow than others. One look at Olivia confirmed she heard it too. Running her fingers around the rocky wall she found what she was looking for. "Shae, give me a hand." She came over and helped Jules move a section of wall out of the way once it was out of the way she pointed at one of the torches along the wall. Shae quickly grabbed one and handed it to her. Putting it in the opening all of them got a look at a tunnel. "I think we just found out how they got in and out."

"I'd say that was a good guess," Olivia told her as she got a good look at it. "I'll go get one of the guards and have them see where this leads. Maybe there's a clue at who the culprit is on the other end." She quickly headed back to the hidden alcoves leaving the two of them and the tunnel.

Jules looked back at the vault, well more the area around the vault. "I wonder if that's how they got into the vault."

"Wouldn't that make some sort of noise?", Shae asked. When Jules looked at her she said, "Making this tunnel I mean. Even if whoever did this used magic there would be some sort of noise being made. Wouldn't there?"

"Depends on how it was done," she tried to get a better look at the tunnel walls, "and how much work was actually done. If this tunnel was already here then an opening woud have to be made, and I can think of a couple of ways to do that off the top of my head that wouldn't draw too much attention just based on that stone we just moved. Granted I'm just speculating here," she added as she stood up, walked over and replaced the torch. "It's all I can do with the information at hand at the moment. It's kind of like hunting a Horror in a way, trying to pick up any cue that would give away what it is with some limited information sometimes."

Before Shae could respond. Olivia came back with one of the guards and quickly pointed out the opening they discovered. "See where that leads and let me know. Try not to be seen as you get to the other end," she told the man.

"Yes ma'am," he said as he took another torch and went into the tunnel.

"You might want to see if there's one leading to the Vault," Jules offered as she stepped closer to Olivia. "We don't now how long it took to bypass those seals on the containers." She looked back at the vault, and more importantly all the slips of paper adorning it. "And I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a fast job."

Olivia nodded again, "Of course. They wouldn't want to be caught in the act. "I'll get on that myself. Thank you Jules, I'm not sure if we would have discovered that tunnel this fast, if at all. I feel we're already a few steps closer than what we were. Although I fear the job isn't done just yet." And Jules had to silently agree there. "I'll let you know what the guard finds. In the meantime why don't you and Shae get some practice in. I'm sure she missed some sessions due to what was going on."

"We don't want her falling behind, do we?", Jules said. Considering she hadn't tried to teach anybody anything before she was slightly afraid she was going to screw the girl up some how.

As always Olivia just seemed to read her as she said, "You'll do fine. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think you could do it."

"If you say so," Jules said. Then she turned toward Shae, "Come one kiddo, show me what you can do ." Her and Shae left the room and headed for the secret opening.

* * *

Once they got to the opening Shae couldn't believe how fast Jules' demeanor seemed to change. She was all business the entire time like she was when she was examining the vault room, but almost as soon as they crossed the threshold she was almost like how she was when she first met her earlier. Going so far as to even tease her about her crush a little. It was so much of a change she had to comment on it, "Why are you acting differently all of the sudden?"

"I am?", she seemed genuinely confused about it, did she not notice what she was doing. After thinking about it for a few moments she said, "I guess Carter's rubbing off a little on me too." Okay, now who was Carter? Jules looked at her then smiled softly, "Carter's my husband. And I only said that because he has two modes. When we're at the house he a bit more open then when we're on patrol, then he's all business. I guess I picked up a little of that, and he wasn't here to see it. I probably should be happy about that because Xypher would never let me hear the end of it." Shae was confused again then remembered she mentioned a Madou Pin a bit ago. She knew some Knights had a Madou item of some sort, the pin was probably her husband's.

It went like that until she realized Jules had guided her to one of the practice ranges. Nobody was around that Shae could see. Probably because of the idea she was still the culprit in some of the other's mind. At least Nadia knew the truth, and Olivia and Jules believed her. That thought should have made her feel better but instead she started feeling more alone than ever. Standing her In front of a target she handed back her Madou Brush and said. "Okay Shae let's start with something simple," and she left it at that as she stepped to the side. Shae knew what she wanted to see. Holding her brush out Shae made a quick circular motion with the bristle drawing a symbol in the ait then she brought her brush back and pointed it the mark she just made, "Ha!" The energy blast was supposed to go straight, but like it had been lately it shot off in a weird direction, in fact it hit a different target entirrly at the very end of the line. Why couldn't she do this stupid spell any more?

"Well," Jules said as she stepped closer, "You hit something, I'll give you credit for that." She said it in a lighthearted way but it just made her feel worse. Then she started feeling Jules rub both of her shoulders, "Okay kiddo relax, I think I might have an idea what's wrong, I just need you to trust me and listen to what I say. Alright close your eyes," she did as instructed, "now take a couple of deep breaths and try to relax." Again she did as she was told, but it wasn't exactly working, at least not very quickly. "Nope still too tense, but take your time. I think I told that to Carter after we got engaged." Shae got an image in her head and snickered a little, for some reason now she started to feel at ease. "There you go, all it took was a semi dirty comment to get you to unwind. That's probably not going to be standard teaching procedure so don't get used to it."

"Okay," Shae said as she finally felt relaxed, more relaxed than she felt in a while.

"Now this next step is very important, so listen closely and do exactly as I tell you." Shae nodded and listened. "Now I want you to forget everything Walter tried to teach you about doing this spell." Opening her eyes Shae looked back at her in confusion. There was no way her current issues were that simple. It made sense but there was just no way. Jules stopped rubbing her shoulders and placed one hand on top of her head, making her face the target again. "Just do it. Do it like you would have before. Trust me."

Taking a deep breath as she backed away again Shae did the spell again, almost exactly the same, except this time when she brought her brush forward she kicked her knee up a little, "Ha!" An energy blast shot straight and hit the target right near the bull-eye.

"There you go," Jules said as she clapped her shoulders. "Now do it again." Shae did and got the same results. Just to prove it to herself she did it a third time. Again it worked perfectly. "See you can do it."

"But Walter said that wasn't proper form." Jules tsked a bit then spun around on one foot for some reason until she faced her again.

"What I just did, it's part of a spell my mentor taught me, a pretty powerful one. But he never did the spin like I do. And not once did he say I wasn't using the proper form, do you know why?" Shae shook her head. Instead of answering right away Jules looked around until she spotted something and pointed it out, it was a group of young children as well as some older ones going over a certain form over and over in practice. "Now are all of them moving the exact same way?", she asked. She was going to say yes but realized if she did Jules would make her look harder so she did so just to avoid being told that. Then she saw what she was talking about. Some of the older kids while going through similar motions had some a variation in their movements she never noticed before.

"No they're not,"

"That's because not everyone moves in the same way," she said. "Now don't get me wrong there are certain types of magic and spells that you have to move in precisely the right way in order to do it properly. But certain spells like that magic blast can allow for little variations in the user's movements. Nothing major but enough that the user's personality can come through slightly. Walter wasn't born to this world," Shae looked at her not understanding what she meant. Unfortunately this time she didn't elaborate on what she was talking about. "No his mindset was pretty much locked in place when he started training."

Shae looked at her unsure if she should ask this or not, but she had to know, "Is that why he's always gloating about growing up in the real world?"

Letting out an exasperated sigh Jules looked around again. And again she found what she was looking for, "You see that instructur over there?" Looking at where she was pointing Shae saw an older male Makai Priest watching over a group of students practice. "Has he ever told you what he thinks of what the regular humans call the 'real world'?"

Shae nodded, "I think he said it was a fantasy or something like that."

"A fantasy that we protect," Jules said in approval. "I got to be honest with you, he not exactly wrong. There's what they call the real world, and then there's the reality we deal with. There would be a lot of panic if they knew the monster under their bed was real. Actually considering some of the Horror's I've come across they'd rather deal with the ones under the bed."

"Why did you decide to hunt Horrors?', Shae asked, some what curious since Jules was the first Makai Priest she knew that actually hunted Horrors like a Makai Knight. She heard rumors yeah, overheard various family members talk about them when she wasn't at the training ground but this was the first time she met one in the flesh.

"Because I was more of a natural in the combat arts," she answered freely enough. "Only made sense once you think about it. But not everybody is, or can they see it in others. I never really thought about it until Vincent, the Priest who mentored me picked up on it."

"Did he hunt Horrors too?"

"Not exactly. He did with me or with a Makai Knight but that was about it," Jules sighed again and looked off in the distance. Shae had seen that look on her father a few times when he was thinking of the grandfather she never had the chance to meet since he died before she was born. So Jules must have lost this person too. "No he was more of a researcher than anything else. Looking up and cataloging old and nearly forgotten spells and items. Not that he couldn't handle his own in a fight." She stopped as Olivia and the guard she sent into the tunnel walked up to them. "Find anything?"

Olivia had the guard stop where he was as she took a few steps closer, "He found the other end of the tunnel and reported back to me. I was hoping that you would assist him in looking the area over for any clues that might be there."

"Of course," Jules said but then she glanced back at her, "But what about...?" Of course she meant Shae was supposed to be by her side at all times. But having her around when she was still under suspicions in some eyes was probably not a good thing, or something like that.

"I think," Olivia said as she stepped closer to her, "that nobody should complain if I stayed with Shae for a little bit. What do you say dear, you want to hang around an old lady?"

Not sure what else to say because Shae was positive she wouldn't be placed any where good if she said no she said, "Sure." Okay, she probably wouldn't be put in that room again but she didn't want to risk it. Olivia looked pleased though so there was that.

Jules looked unsure but said, "All right then, I guess it's settled." She said something to Olivia didn't quite catch. Something like, "We didn't do much."

Olivia didn't seemed worried, "I'm sure it's fine. Now go and look the area over. Maybe Shae could show me what you two did do, or she could ask for some advise on certain things. If she's so inclined that is."

"I wouldn't know what to ask," she said.

"Oh I'm sure something will occur to you without even thinking about it," Olivia assured her. Still she was a bit more nervous now.

"Okay," Jules said to the guard, "show me what you found." He nodded and told her to follow him. Jules followed for a bit and pointed a finger in their direction. "You better behave yourself." Shae looked down a bit, why did she say that to her? Then she said," I was talking to Olivia." Shae looked back up to see her grin before turning back around to follow the guard.

"I see some things haven't changed," Olivia said shaking her head. Then she looked at her and smiled softly, "Maybe I should be worried that I asked her to help you train when she could. She might corrupt you without even trying." Shae smiled a little which seemed to satisfy the older woman. "So why don't you show me what you worked on in this short of time. I wanted to give you a little longer but that tunnel wasn't as long as I thought it was."

"Yes ma'am," Shae said. Facing the target she fired off another magical blast. Hitting it much to her personal delight. She looked at Olivia who seemed happy with what she saw. "That's about it.," Shae told her when it looked like she was waiting for more.

"Small steps dear," Olivia told her. "I'm sure your next mentor will help you along even more."

Shae looked at her in surprise, "I'm not going back with Walter?"

"No dear," Olivia said. "That's not a mistake I'm going to make again." Next mentor, Shae still couldn't believe it. If Jules was right he was the source of all her current problems. So it would be great to be with somebody who'd try to understand her like Jules did. In fact she hoped that's who her new mentor would be.


	6. Chapter 5

The guard lead her to an area near the outer edge of the woods hiding the training ground. Jules guess it was a little too much to ask that the other opening was near one of the buildings. At least then she'd have an immediate target to look at. But here it was nothing but trees, trees and more trees. As she looked around she commented, "I'm guessing Olivia doesn't have much of a guard presence in this section of the woods." When she was here the students were told that there were all sorts of spells and guards to keep any unwanted visitors, human or Horror, out. Not once did she consider those spells might have been one way or that the area wasn't as heavily guarded as she was lead to believe when she was younger. Looking at it now if somebody want to leave the training ground unnoticed this would have been the perfect way, she could even see the road she walked to get here from this position.

"I get the feeling there's going to be a larger one in the immediate future," the guard said, not really turning around to talk to her. "I mean who knows how many of the people here knew they could get out this way if they wanted too."

"Not counting the staff itself," Jules told him, "at least one. Let's make sure that number doesn't get much larger in the near future."

"I'm already going over all the guards in my head," he said as he continued on. "We may have to patrol the entire outside edge from this point on."

"Hopefully just long enough that people get the idea the area is heavily guarded," Jules offered. "I know just the idea kept a lot of us from exploring these woods when I was studying here."

"Same here," he said, this time he did look back and smile. Well at least they had some sort of common ground now. Jules knew she was stepping on more than a few toes when she agreed to Olivia's request to help. There was no need to get the local guards too riled at her after all. "Here it is," he announced suddenly. He stopped and waited for her to get closer.

Like she thought after seeing where they were going it was a small open bit that didn't have much vegetation covering it. It also didn't have the one thing she expected to see, "Where's the opening?", she asked the guard. He walked forward and jabbed the blunt end of his spear into the ground. Jules raised an eyebrow as it went through the ground. Not in the dug in sort of way. In the it wasn't even there way. "An illusion spell," she said in understanding. And it made perfect sense, there wasn't a lot of options to cover a tunnel opening in the immediate area so just create one.

"Not only did it cover the opening it covered up any tracks he or she might have left behind. But I am worried about one of the kids falling through it by accident." The training ground could hardly be seen from here, which was by design to guard it from prying eyes so to speak. But she could understand his concern. One of them gets brave and comes this way and falls in a hole they couldn't even see. Not to mention how long it would take to find them.

Retrieving her brush she stepped forward trying to remember the general location of the opening, "We can't have that now, can we?" The bristles starting to glow as she did a quick motion and started to slowly scan the area. She wasn't scanning for the seal that was doing this, not exactly she was trying to get a sense of how the illusion was flowing in a sense. Because then she could go opposite of the 'current' and find the general area of where it was coming from. After a bit with her brush hovering over a certain spot she asked the guard, "You any good a spear fishing?"

"Haven't done since I was a boy," he answered. Then he twirled the spear around until he was holding it with the spear pointing at the ground. "But I'm sure it'll come back to me." Making a slight tapping motion with her brush in the general area she backed away, again making sure to avoid the location of the hole. The guard walked up then jammed the point of the spear into the ground. It seemed to warble a bit as the illusion disappeared as they both looked at the actual ground and the slip of paper pierced by the spear. Pulling up the spear the guard removed the paper and studied it. "I'm not familiar with this particular spell," he said and handed it to her.

Jules took it and studied it as well before shaking her head, "I don't recognize it either. It might be a new one." Which is what Olivia thought might be the case with whoever did this got past the seals on the vault and containers. So maybe a small confirmation Olivia was on the right track at least if nothing else. "Now I won't assume to speak for Olivia but maybe we should get a guard out here sooner rather than later." She said as she started studying the ground looking for any sort of tracks that weren't made by them.

"I agree," he said as he started looking as well. "Do you see anything?"

"Maybe," was all she said as she found several sets of foot prints going in a certain direction. She tried to follow it with her eyes, and much like she guessed they weren't heading toward the training ground but further into the woods. "Is there anything that way," she said pointing in that direction," that could be used as a hiding place?"

"Not that I'm aware of," he said. Well that was helpful. "But I can consult the old records. I'm sure an accounting was made of any caves in the area when the place was built. I'm fairly sure a student getting lost in these woods isn't a new concern."

Jules smirked, "I'm sure it's not." Putting her brush back "While you're at it see if any mention of that tunnel is in those records. Because the more I think about it the more I'm convinced that tunnel was already here because we should have seen a mound of dirt somewhere. Unless it's been stashed with the stolen items."

"I'll do that,"he said, "What are you going to be doing?"

"Heading this way for a bit," she told him indicating the direction those foot prints seemed to go. "Just to see what I can see. Oh do me a small favor and see if you can get any information on who has access to those records or who looked at them recently at least. I like to think that you don't just stumble upon a tunnel leading to a forbidden vault, not without doing some research before hand."

"I'll see what I can do." Jules nodded as they both headed off in different directions, Jules in particular hoping she just didn't give the culprit the opportunity to cover his tracks by appearing to be helpful. This was like hunting a Horror with limited information. You didn't know who or what to trust.

* * *

Okay this was officially not good. The trail, as loose as it was, quickly disappeared as the ground quickly became more solid and rocky the further away she got from the opening. She tried to take a guess where the vault was in comparison to her current position. By her estimate she had to be close, that and the ground mildly reminded her of the walls on the chamber and the passage leading up to it. Stomping on the ground a bit she understood why this place was originally chosen as a place to hide one of the vaults. This place was hard enough that she imagined that it took a while to make the vault chamber to begin with. Looking around she tried to get into the thief's mindset and figure out where they might have hidden the items. Again it would make things a bit easier if there was a building to head too, even if it was too obvious. At least she'd have something to search, and worry if it was a waste of time later. It would be better than doing what she was doing now. She was going to have to remember to ask Olivia about that the next time she saw her.

"Enough of spinning this particular wheel," she said mainly to herself. As hard as it was to do it was probably time to admit that this particular lead more than likely was a dead end. If the thief knew about the vault then they knew about this patch of rocky Earth and might have headed in this direction just so they could change direction and throw off anybody following their trial. So that's what she did as she turned to face the direction of the training ground and headed back. Besides it was more than likely time to check in on her temporary charge. Exiting the wooded area into the edge of the training ground and headed toward the last place she saw the two of them. Surprisingly both of them were still there. Jules couldn't help but notice at how much happier Shae seemed to be than when she left. Hopefully that wasn't a commentary on her trying to be a teacher. Olivia's guard saw her come close and greeted her with with a nod as she stepped aside to let her pass. Jules nodded in return as she passed. "Hey guys," she said once she was close enough. "How's it going?"

"Jules!," An extremely excited Shae said as she ran up to her, "Olivia taught me a spell. An advanced one I didn't think I could do." She looked over at Olivia, "Can I show her?"

"Go ahead," Olivia told her while smiling slightly. "You're not going to settle down until you do."

"Let's see it," Jules said. Shae went back to the targets and set herself. Holding her brush out she brought it to the side and swung it up in a half circle. Making several small circles as she brought it back forward. She then held it so the bristles were pointed straight up. Jules arched an eyebrow as she glanced over at Olivia who seemed proud at what she was seeing. Jules knew this spell, having seen the older woman perform it before as part of a demonstration years ago. Again She kicked up her knee as she brought the Brush back down with a shout. From each circle pattern a bolt of energy fired out and hit a target each. If it was possible Shae looked even more excited than she did earlier. So Jules smiled and gave her a small clap to show how impressed she was at the demonstration. "You never taught me that," she said to Olivia.

"Vincent took you from us before I had the chance," she said in response. To Shae she said, "I think that's enough for today. You showed me a lot Shae, enough to verify that my decision to reassign you a new mentor was the right one."

Shae stopped looking excited, but looked at her brush as she clutched it a little closer to her. Jules heart went out to her. She walked up to Shae and tried not to look impatient. Without any prodding Shae slowly handed her the brush. Jules took it saying, "Remember what I told you," she said as she placed the brush in one of the inner pockets of her coat. "Just as soon as we prove to the others that it wasn't you." To Olivia she said, "How well do you have the woods around the training ground mapped out? That guard headed for the records to see if there's any caverns that are big enough around to stash things. But There's has to be more than that out there. Like some sort of shed, to keep any unwanted visitors or something."

She looked thoughtful, "Not that I recall. One of my predecessors was pretty adamant about reusing materials on any structures that weren't of any use any more. Those targets over there were made out of one of those sheds you mentioned I believe."

"It would still help to know where they were," Jules insisted. "In case they had a basement or something. Those items have to be somewhere. They're just not going to walk through the training grounds carrying those things unnoticed."

"True," she conceded. "I have some old maps in my office. I'll look them over and see if I can see anything that might have fit that description."

"Can I asked what was stolen?", Shae spoke up suddenly.

"Not in this case kiddo," Jules quickly said, much to Olivia's apparent relief and Shae's disappointment. "The fewer people who know what's in any particular vault the better. Besides, it's better if you don't know. I know I wished I didn't know sometimes."

"Same here," Olivia agreed. "And I'm the guardian of this particular vault so I had to know it's contents."

Looking at her with a confused look Shae asked Jules, "Then how do you know about the contents?"

"Like I said my mentor was mainly a researcher when I first joined him," she told her. "And sometimes he needed help researching various things. Unfortunately a couple of those items were the focus of that research. Olivia, why did you and Vincent go to the vault that day? He always said it wasn't really that interesting of a story and left it there."

"I'm afraid he was right Jules," Olivia told her. "I needed to replace of a couple of seals that were about to fade away. One object in particular needed a very powerful seal, one that needed two Makai Priests to fully enact it. Considering he had a bit of knowledge of the older items and spells he seemed like the perfect person to ask." She snorted a bit, "Even if he did leave and take one of my more promising students under his wing at the time."

"Didn't know Reks had that much potential," Jules said, mainly as a joke. But saying it did make her a little bit sadder as she remembered him. "Come on Shae, I don't think those clothes Nadia was going through are going to put themselves back. Unless you created a spell that would do that?", she trailed off at the look Shae was giving her, the typical teenage you must be joking look. "Right nobody's that neat. Olivia if you'll excuse us."

"Of course. Take heart Shae," she told her, "this will be over before you know it. Then everything will be back to normal."

"Or better," Jules added, considering Olivia said she was changing her mentor. That part had to be better, they would have to try for it to be any worse. "Let's go Shae." Jules waited until Shae was next to her before heading off with a wave to Olivia. Besides who knew how long it was going to take Olivia and that guard to look that information up. This way she could get to know Shae a little better since the person behind all this mess wasn't going to announce it was them and laugh manically like some old time movie villain.

* * *

That woman was better than anticipated, finding that tunnel like she did. It had to be her experience hunting down Horrors, it just had to be. Olivia and several of the guards explored the chamber as thouroughly as they could and never even suspected it existed. Time to control the damage as much as possible at this point. Olivia sent the one guard to explore the tunnel so by now he probably discovered the trick used to keep that exit hidden. That woman would probably look at it too. So no more excursions to collect artifacts.

Okay that was no problem, there was more than enough to sell at this point. Didn't have a clue what any of them did but that wasn't an issue. A good story sold better than actual facts any way. After the money traded hands it didn't really matter if the person who ended ups buying it ended up killing themselves. But track, not just the physical ones, had to be covered. So a quick trip to the archive room and make sure certain reports were mysteriously 'lost' and all that needed to be reworked was the escape strategy..

"What are you doing here?", a unexpected voice asked. One of the other guards was in here.

Damn it, damn it, damn it! Nobody was supposed to come in here. Quick, think fast, don't make him suspicious, you're almost there. Do not mess up now. 'I thought I'd check the old records to see if there was any mention of that tunnel."

"Hmm," he said as he went back to looking over those same records, "that Priest Olivia brought in had the same thought." Damn it, damn it, damn it. "So she asked me to check for any records of it after I see if there's any caverns in the areas that would be big enough to stash the stolen items in."

"So they know what was taken?" This could be not good depending on what they know.

"I'm pretty sure Olivia does but she hasn't shared that information as far as I know." Of course Olivia would know, she could probably even... Okay there was no way they could track the items, Olivia would have done it by now if that was the case So just relax they were still be in the dark about certain details so far.

"Seems to be a strange time to be secretive about something."

"No kidding but I think Jules has an idea of what might be in that vault, I'm just guessing because she knew what the vault was and seemed a little afraid of it," Oh right, her name was Jules. "The kid not so much, but she was giving it all the respect it deserves."

"It's a forbidden vault, anybody who knows what it is is going to give it the proper respect."

"You're right of course, Now if that idiot would just keep quiet about a 'secret vault' that would make things easier on all of us."

That idiot being Walter of course. While his ineptitude was a needed ploy if he kept bringing attention to the vault it was just going to make things harder. "Maybe a couple of us should have a ''talk' with him." A few well placed pats on the spear got the message across easy enough.

The other guard snorted, "Not going to lie, it's tempting. The man's been asking for a beating almost from the moment he arrived. But Olivia has some weird soft spot for him so I'll pass. I might turn my back at the right moment though." Both of them laughed but he was still looking over the records. Then he took a closer look at one in particular. "This looks like the one we need.," he said. "I better let the archivist know I'm taking this one for a bit. Jules is going to be a tad disappointed though."

"Why if it has what we're looking for?"Damn it, damn it damn it. There were too many people outside to just kill him and take the records. Had to do it in here then. The archivist was old enough that she should be easy enough to take care of. But where to hide the bodies?

Then the guard said, "She also asked me to see who looked at these records recently.. Unfortunately the archivist told me they only kept records of those who takes them out of the building. There's too many people coming and going to keep track of them all."

Oh she was good, but not good enough. "Unlucky for us then, could have really narrowed down the list of suspects."

"Could have." he said as he took the record, "but that's life sometimes. See you around." Waving in return and trying not to panic, things could be worse. They don't know where the items are hidden yet. But if that woman was as good as believed she could probably talk Olivia to increase the guard presence in the surrounding woods. Which means the timetable would have to be sped up. But this could still be workable, chances were the increased presence wouldn't be that soon, or that great right away. It could still work, just can't make make any major mistakes and keep the small ones at a minimum.


	7. Chapter 6

Leaning against the wall Jules just watched as Shae put everything Nadia had left on the bed back in the while the kid wasn't exactly being anal about it, it was pretty obvious everything had a section of sorts in that closest and she was making sure things were in the right place. Not quite as perfectly as she assumed it would be, but it still made her the neatest teenager Jules had ever met. Still it was surprising that she didn't notice some old folded papers fall out of a particular jacket. She only noticed when Jules walked over and picked it. Not that she had any intentions of looking at it, at that was the idea until Shae went, "No," in a really nervous way.

Jules whose only thought right then was don't prove me wrong now kid as she opened it, Shae just looked embarrassed as she glanced over it. She looked up at Shae and asked, "Where did you get this?" She didn't answer, she just kept looking down like she was caught having something she wasn't supposed to have. Probably the wrong tone of voice to use there. "You can be honest with me,' she said in what she hoped was a less demanding way. "Trust me you're not in trouble," Jules folded it back up and handed it back to her, "Would I be giving it back to you if you were?"

With some uncertainty she reached out and took the papers back. "I found it under some rocks in a box." she finally said sill looking like she did something wrong.

"By the stream on the south side of the compound right?", Jules said suddenly. Shae looked back up surprised. She smirked as she went on, "My friend put it there years ago, she hoped somebody would find it in the future, I'm not sure if she thought it would found be this soon or not." She looked over Shae with a new appreciation, "You can do string magic? That's pretty cool."

"Walter thought it was useless," she said softly. Only to look up when Jules put a hand on her shoulder.

"Now I thought we agreed that anything Walter said was to be forgotten. But come on now I know you had to have done some practicing behind his back, otherwise you wouldn't still have this." Backing up to give her a little more space Jules sat on the edge of the desk and said, "Show me something."

Luckily it didn't take much more prodding to get that demonstration as Shae reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of string that was tied end to end forming a circle. She began interweaving the string around her fingers. Before long she made a shape as the string glowed. Then Shae made a throwing motion with her hands at the door, the criss crossing shape covering it.

Getting off the desk Jules walked over to the door and tried opening it. The door wouldn't budge, like it was locked in place. Which it basically was if Jules remembered this particular spell correctly. "Considering Walter had a nasty habit of just barging in whenever he felt like, I'm not surprised you mastered that one."

"You're friend ceeated this?", Shae asked.

"Not quite," Jules said as Shae undid the spell. "She found an old scroll that had the basics more or less down. But she was intrigued enough to try and expand on it. Unfortunately she was the only one who did. While I did support her efforts, I'm sad to say I didn't think much of it at the time either. What else can you do?"

"So far just that," she started looking a little embarrassed, "I... can't read her hand writing all that well."

Snorting a bit Jules told her, "How did you think I recognized what it was? And her hand writing hasn't exactly improved over the years." Shae looked relieved that she wasn't in trouble, okay practice or not that was something she had to work on while she was here. Shae had potential, she just didn't need to hold herself back. Maybe work on making that bit of trust between then just a little bit stronger. "Look Shae, I said you had to be honest with me, and that's still true. But I want you to trust me too. I need you to know that you can ask me anything and I'll do my best to answer it. It might not be a good answer, or even the one you's want to hear but it'll be an answer."

"Anything?", she hesitantly asked. Jules should have expected that one, she pretty much opened the door for it.

"Anything," she told her. Jules went over and sat on the bed and patted the mattress indicating Shae should join her. She did so but she still looked uncertain. "So what's on your mind?" In all honestly she was expecting something like, what going to happen to me if they don't find the real culprit, or what was it like to hunt Horrors. At the extreme ways to hurt somebody like Walter without being caught. She was semi prepared for those types of questions.

So when Shae asked, "How did you get the Knight you married to like you?" It took Jules more than a little cut off guard. She blinked a few times as she processed what she just asked. Shae looked on silently as she waited. Jules looked away for a second still a little stunned, but she did say she give an answer.

"Wow," she finally ended up saying as her voice started working. "So you're crush is a Knight trainee." Shae got embarrassed again. "I didn't get Carter to 'like' me," she ended up saying. Obviously that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. Jules patted her knee as she tried to get her thoughts together. "I'm going to tell you something that friend," she pointed at the notes still in Shae's hand, "told me, her Father was a Makai Knight so she should know, but Knights basically have two sets of armor. The first one obvious right? The armor they don to fight Horrors."

Shae nodded then went, "And the second one?" Granted she looked as confused as Jules felt when she first heard this years ago.

"The second one is the one they place around their hearts. It's not a actual physical armor but a mental one since they have to keep their emotions in check because the soul metal would react to them. That one they have to let you in. There's no way to force it open."

"Oh," Shae said a little dejected.

"I didn't say it was impossible," Jules quickly said. "Carter let me in because he got to know me. It has to be organic is what I'm saying. Just be you, and the you I've seen so far is awesome so don't let anybody tell you otherwise." While she didn't say a particular name out loud, it was obvious Shae knew who she was partially referring to. "But trust me Shae, if your guy is anything like Carter, once you're in you are in. Well hopefully he'd be more like Carter, it's not always the case."

"What do you mean?", Shae asked. Jules kicked herself a little mentally, she had to stop giving her these openings.

"Well," she started deciding to be honest with her, "A few days before we were married we got an assignment. It involved a Makai Priest who fell because she got engaged to a Knight who ended up cheating on her. Then hit her when she confronted him with it." Shae looked shocked to hear this. Hopefully anybody with any sense would be shocked at hearing something like that. "Now I haven't met you crush but I'm sure he's nothing like that guy." For Shae's sake if nothing else she hoped her crush was absolutely nothing like that guy.

"So Carter is pretty understanding then?", Shae asked.

"More or less. He can be a little gruff when you first met him. It took me a bit to realize that he was lowering that guard a bit when we were alone. Like I said he basically has two modes, and I know he lets me say some things to him that he wouldn't tolerate from others. And that was before we were married. Although," she trailed off a bit. "between the two of us you'd assume I'd be the sex hungry one if you just met us."

"Jules," Shae quickly said looking uncomfortable with the sudden turn in the conversation. Apparently she hadn't quite picked up thart she shouldn't be showing her an opening like that yet. Better drive that particular lesson home if she was going to be around her.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm exactly turning him down when the mood hits." Shae started to cringe a bit more as she started to pull away. Okay time to take a little pity on her, besides this more than likely wasn't the best conversation to have with someone her age. "Granted we've only been married about five months now, so we're technically still in the honeymoon period," granted it was probably the outside edge of that particular time frame, but still inside it. "I'm sure he'll settle down before too long." She got off the bed and waited for Shae to do the same. "Just remember, just be you. And if it looks like he likes you in return don't try and change anything, not him, not yourself, nothing. And don't rush anything either," she said as they headed for the door, "The last thing I need is for your parents hunting me down, I don't even think Carter would have my back there. Shae smiled as they left the room. "Let's see if Olivia or that guard has found anything yet."

* * *

Things were going a little better now, both the guard and Olivia had found what they were looking for. They, minus Shae who was waiting in the other room, huddled around a table in Olivia's office, the one she first saw the box with the bypassed seal which had been removed at this point, more than likely back to the Vault chamber if she had to guess. People were already talking about a vault, much to Olivia's dismay, no point in adding any type of fuel to the speculation fire. First of all her hunch appeared to be right, that tunnel was there before. But there was nothing indicating that there was one leading to the vault itself. "Of course it wasn't going to be that simple," she muttered as she looked over the paper. "And they only keep track of people who remove things from the archives?", she asked the guard.

"That's what I was told," he responded.

"That's they way it's always been," Olivia spoke up, "even when I was studying here. 'These are records of this place's history' the head Priest at the time once told us, 'they must be preserved and respected as much as anything else in the Order'. It's something that stayed with me, even after I was asked to take over those duties." Olivia took the records and carefully placed them back in the protective holder the guard had brought them in and closed it with some reverence. "Even more so today."

"That's all well and good Olivia," Jules said, "but we're still no closer to figuring out who did this."

"Unfortunately that's true," Olivia said as she handed the container back to the guard, "Thank you Marcus. But if it was that easy I wouldn't need you help." Hearing the slight edge in her voice Jules decided to pull back a bit. The last thing this investigation needed was the person who brought her in to get upset with her. It took a moment but Olivia did seem to calm down "I know you didn't mean any thing by it dear."

"I was about to cross a line," Jules quickly said. "And I'm sure the stress over the situation isn't helping. I know I'm feeling it at the moment." Ovlivia just nodded, to be honest it wasn't until just then that Jules seen her show the weight of the situation getting to her. Even when she was smaller Jules always thought Olivia had an unlimited well of patience and strength, so everything had it's limits from all appearances.

"We all are Jules," she said. Going back to the table and the map, which was still in it's frame, along with stacks of old documents from her office she waved her closer. "But you might be right about where the items might be hidden. Look here," she pointed to a couple of small section of buildings that she couldn't exactly remember as she hovered over a lone building in the middle of it all." This building was torn down decades ago as were these others. I almost forgot about them until you mentioned something about basements. I had to look through several old records to see if I was right." Looking through the stacks she found what she was searching for and showed it to her. "This building had an basement level, as did a couple of others."

She felt the smile start to form on her face as she looked over the paper. That basement was just covered over, not filled in according to this, "So we got a starting point in our search. Marcus," she addressed the guard, "where was that opening located?"

He got closer to get a better look at the map. Pointing out a particular section he told her, "About here." Nodding Jules held a finger over the map and traced a line from that spot to were those buildings were. Seeing what she was doing he commented, "Plenty of space to get things from here to there without being seen."

"Unfortunately," she said. She didn't have to ask if the records for those old buildings were in the archives. And just cemented that this was an inside job in her mind. Because it took this much research just to get them this far. And just stumbling across a tunnel leading to a forbidden vault and a place to hide the goods was just too much to be a coincidence. She had to start looking ar the personal here a little closer. Jules knew she should have done it sooner but she was a little bust trying to see if Shae was the actual culprit or not first. So start with the obvious choices and try to eliminate who you can to narrow things down. She looked up at Marcus before glancing at Olivia. "I think I need to speak with some of the guards here, particularly the ones assigned to watch the vault. Sorry," she said to Marcus right after making that request.

"Completely understandable," he told her.

"I can arrange a meeting," Olivia said, "but not anyone during their shift. Now does not seem to be a good time to lessen the number of guards around the vault. There's never a good time of course."

"Of course," she agreed with a slight grin, "we don't want to give the thief a free shot now. You gather those guards, I'll be back in a bit, I think a certain student might be going a little stir crazy." Olivia nodded as she headed for the door. On the other side Shae was still in the chair that she sat in when the meeting first started. And like Jules thought was looking extremely bored until the door opened. Okay they had to figure out something better to do with her when they had these meetings since having her listen in wasn't the best idea. If teenagers where anything like she was growing up the more they knew the more they wanted to tell somebody. Or maybe that was just her. Either way it was better to make sure the temptation wasn't all that great. "Let's go stretch our legs for a bit, I want to see how much the training grounds has changed since I've been gone." Greteful for the change of pace Shae jumped out of the chair and joined her as she left the building.

* * *

It was a little surprising that Jules was doing exactly like she said she was going to, even going so far to point out any difference she happened to spot while they walked. While Shae wasn't exactly expecting, she might have been expecting it a little, to be brought along while she worked the assignment she was asked to do the impromptu tour was unexpected. "You see that tree over there," she pointed out one in particular as they walked around, "I got half way up it when I was nine before one of the instructor literately dragged me down." The tree in question had to be at least over sixty feet tall now. And she wasn't seeing any branches low enough to jump up and grab to start, not to mention that trunk looked as straight as any tree she'd seen.

Okay she had to know as she kept looking at that tree while they past it, "Why would you even try to climb that tree?"

She shrugged, "A boy said I couldn't do it so I decided to show him. I'm pretty sure he was the one who got the instructor to begin with. Some people just hate to lose."

"You climbed that because a boy said you couldn't do it?", Shae said in disbelief.

"I was little more stubborn back then," she said with another shrug. "Like I said I was nine. Any time a boy told me I couldn't do something, it just made that more determined to prove him wrong. Now I've matured so anytime anybody tells me I can't do something I'll just ignore them. And thank you for not laughing when I said I matured."

"It's hard imagining you at my age much less nine," she said suddenly. Shocking herself in the process, and Jules as well as she looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. "I mean you … you're."

"Old enough to be called ma'am?", she said In that teasing way Shae had quickly learned to identify. And even though she knew she was just teasing her Shae still felt a little embarrassed. Then Jules put a arm around her shoulders, "Well I was, believe it or not so was Olivia. I had to grow into the person I am now. So will you after you get out in the world and see things with the filters off."

"You mean hunting Horrors?", she asked trying to figure out what she meant.

"No, not like that," she said. "Not every Makai Priest hunts Horrors." She searched for the proper words, "I mean actually experience things out there." She gestured to the woods and the things past them. "The good and the bad. And I'll be honest with you some days there seems to be more bad than good." After she said that she looked thoughtful again, then she muttered, "Is that why he did it? He was starting to see more bad than good?"

"Who?", Shae asked. Jules looked like she was about to answer but got this look on her face. It was almost like she was suddenly sad about something, like when she was talking about her mentor.

"It's nothing important any more," she ended up saying. "Just a left over question from something that happened over a year ago. I know I said I'd be truthful about anything you asked, but that one still a little too personal to answer."

"I understand," Shae told her. She did too, or at least she thought she did. So she tried to get away from this particular subject. Thinking fast, or trying to at least, she went with the first thing that popped into her mind. "Are you scared when you hunt Horrors?"

"Sometimes," Jules said, surprising her a little. Why would you admit that hunting Horrors scares you, even if it's just a little, when you hunt Horrors? Sensing her confusion Jules said, "I may be capable of doing combat spells and take down lower level Horrors but I'm still human. Unless the Watchdogs gives us an assignment most times me and Carter don't know what we're up against half of the time. One of the first times we ever worked together we stumbled upon a pretty powerful Horror, and we weren't even after it at the time. Damn thing took over a car and people wondered why I have a slight disdain for Horrors who don't take over human like the others do." She shook her head as they kept going.

"Okay then," Shae went.

"Don't get me wrong, I never want to see a human get eaten or possessed by one," she went on. "I do as much as I can to make sure that doesn't happen, I'm not always successful but I try. And I'd bet anything Carter would tell you the same thing, we both hate it when we find a gate that's been used. But hunting Horrors is hard enough as it is when it's a person." She stopped talking just long enough to take a glance behind them. Shae did the same and saw Walter quickly duck behind a tree, that was about a yard or so away from him.

"He's following us?", she asked.

"Almost since we left's Olivia's office," Jules replied as they kept going. Shae looked back as he got out from behind the tree only to jump back again when he noticed she was looking. "Probably trying to see if we're up to anything. But he's not the one I'm worried about though, it's the other one." Shae started to look again but Jules quickly told her, "Don't look. So far that person doesn't know I'm on to 'em just yet. Let's keep it that way for now"

"The thief?" she asked, although the temptation was enough to look back Shae did as she was told.

"More than likely, I thought I saw somebody move behind Walter right after he did," Jules answered. Then she pointed at something more toward the side, "My friend had her first kiss right over there. Never did see what she did in the guy." Shae thought she knew what she was doing, making sure the person following them didn't catch on that she knew. They kept on walking a path that seemed rarely used, actually Shae was fairly sure they were in a area that's off limits to the students here. They turned a corner then Jules quickly pushed her off the path and got her to kneel down behind a rather large bush, "Quiet now," she said softly. Shae did as she was told as Jules kept her eyes on the path. She pulled them back behind the bush as Walter came around the path, looking around. He muttered something as he hurried off, obviously thinking they went on ahead. If she thought Jules was going to relax a bit Shae was mistaken when she looked at her. Jules took her eyes off the path and started looking around them. "About as smart I thought they'd be," she said after a moment as she stood up.

"Who? The Thief?", Shae asked. Jules just nodded as she looked around a bit herself.

"It was a long shot any way," she said after a bit. Then she started off again but not along the path, but further off it. Into an area Shae knew she wasn't allowed to go. "Come on," she said, "I can't just leave you here."

"But this area is forbidden to students," she said.

"It was when I was going here too," Jules told her. "Just made me want to see it even more. Also there were a bunch of buildings that been torn down and the lower levels weren't exactly filed in. Which is why students were banned from entering the area. You never knew when you step on something and fall through."

""So you're investigating a lead," Shae said as it dawned on her.

"Mostly," Jules said. "I was being honest about wanting to stretch the legs out and see some of the changes in camp. But I might be right about were the thief could be hiding the things taken from the vault. However I still don't know who to trust in this situation to go and check things out. Well Marcus seems pretty trustworthy so far but it could be an act. Call it paranoia from hunting Horrors."

"They can be anything apparently," Shae said as she followed her deeper into the area. Granted she wasn't the typical 'good student', always following the rules and things like that, and she wouldn't say it out loud but there was a certain thrill to what they were doing. But just the idea that they could get caught was making her heart race a little faster.

"Exactly." Jules kept a closer eye on the ground here, as well as their surroundings. "Listen to me Shae, a little fear can be a good thing," she said continuing their previous conversation. "It keeps your senses sharp in situations like this. There you are." She made her look ahead a little further with that last statement, to a bunch of sunken boards in the ground. Crouching down she examined the area, "It doesn't look like any one has touched these in years. So if I was putting stuff here where would I get in?" Shae got closer as she kept looking. Suddenly Jules popped up and held out a arm to block her way, eyes locked on something. Then Shae saw it, a black slip of paper with red markings. Whatever it was it freaked Jules out enough that she made her back up away from the boards.

"What is it?", she asked when they finally stopped. "I've never seen a seal like that before."

"That wasn't a seal Shae, not in the way you're thinking," she answered in a confusing way. In what kind of way was it then? "That's a trap, a rather explosive one." Shae blinked a few times as the words hit her. She was that close.

"Can you get around it?"

Jules looked back at the area,"Maybe. If it was just me I'd try it. But not with you here." Shae started to protest that she wasn't in the way but Jules quickly cit that off, "By staying by me I'm supposed to make sure you stay safe. And disarming a explosive spells with you around does not count as keeping you safe."

"So now what do we do now?", she asked.

"Well, we go back to Olivia's office and tell her what we found. She won't like that I brought you out here but it can't be helped. And I have got to find you something to do beside sitting in that office while I'm talking to her."

"You won't get an argument from me," Shae told her. Jules just looked at her, "What?"

"That's sounds like something I'd say. Now I know I can't be rubbing off on you that quickly," Jules told her as they headed back to the path.


	8. Chapter 7

There was no way she saw me, the actual thief thought. She was concentrating on that oaf following the two of them. But there still might be the chance she caught a small glimpse, s leg at the most, when he tried to hide suddenly when they looked back. A glimpse didn't mean she got a good look behind him at me. It was a small hope to cling to but it's all there was at the moment. Then she and the girl hide once they turned the corner, and stayed hidden once the oaf kept going. They were still visible from this position so the thief watched to see what they would do. She was waiting for me, the thief realized quickly enough. It was just a glimpse that was it but apparently it was enough to raise her suspicions. So I'll just stay here. She got out of hiding and looked around before they headed further into the woods, not continue along the path but into the woods. The thief was confused for a moment, only to panic slightly when the thief realized where they were.

How did she know? Those buildings were already torn down decades ago, long before she was ever a student here. Staying back but keeping them in view the thief watched as she headed to where the old building was ant knelt down. Not really breathing the thief watched as she looked around. Then her demeanor seemed to changed, she noticed the trap that was set. She made the girl back up before leaving after a quick conversation.

She's going to Olivia, in that there was no question. And there was no time to get the items and move them elsewhere. Well maybe a couple since they were hidden in more than one basement. But the big money items were in that spot. So it was time to get picky. But there was still that woman, if she knew about this one then there was a chance she knew about the other buildings that used to be in this section. Probably got that information from Olivia since even the archives didn't have the old training ground maps. Well this wasn't going to be as bloodless as originally planned. No some people were going to have to die now if they got in the way. And she had to be one of them, there was just no other way.

* * *

To say Olivia was upset that she took Shae into that area was an understatement. She was down right angry over it. Even when she was younger Jules had never seen her this angry. Jules knew the woman wasn't a big believer in physical violence, but for a moment there she was actually worried it was going to head that way. Then she mentioned the trap. The anger she was feeling melted away along with the color in her face. "A.. are you sure?", she asked.

"I've seen it before or something similar," Jules told her. "Most recently before me and Carter was married. I'm pretty sure I could have disarmed it but I didn't want to risk it with Shae there. And honestly Olivia You're the only person here, outside of Shae that is, I think I could tell that too."

"Of course," Olivia said, although still a little ruffled over the information she was just told. "I've been the head of this particular training ground for a long time. I'm finding it more that a tad upsetting that I don't think I can trust those who been under me for just as long."

"Believe me Olivia I more than understand what you're going through." Like when they thought somebody was trying to split the order again. She didn't know who they could trust during that situation either. Although trying to deal with someone trying to pick up were Sigma left off was easier to deal with than what actually happened. Olivia, knowing the details of what happened back then just nodded. Jules still felt for her though. "It just means we need to figure out who else we can trust and quick. Have you brought in some of the vault guards in so I can talk to them?"

"Yes, a couple of them just arrived after you did." Jules tried not to read into that statement too much, considering she was fairly certain the thief was following her and Shae not that long ago. "They're in another room, waiting for you."

"Lead the way," Jules said. Following her out the door Jules took a moment to look out a particular window to view the front of the building. There was Shae sitting on a bench talking to her friend Nadia, and not that far off was one of the regular guards keeping watch over the situation. Again not an ideal solution but infinitely better than just having her stay in a room by herself while she did this. And Olivia swore by this particular guard so she had to trust her judgement there, despite revealing she wasn't sure who she could trust either in this situation. But sometimes you just had to take a leap of faith with some people.

"In here," Olivia said as opened a particular door. On the other side was five individuals just standing around. Four of which who were staring right at her as she and Olivia entered the room. But all it took was one look from Olivia for that to strop. Satisfied the situation was settled for the most part she started with the introductions, "You know Marcus of course," they simply nodded to each other. "This is the head of the vault detail Emily," who also nodded but still kept her eyes on Jules. "And we have Hector, Johnathon and Lynda. Jasmine and Travis are currently still guarding the Vault."

"I'd like to talk to them later if that's possible," she said.

"I'm sure it will be," Olivia told her. "You don't need me holding your hand here so I'll let you get to it. Answer her questions as best as you can," she told the guards before leaving the room. Once the door closed Jules took stock of who was in the room with her. Emily was still staring her down, and everyone but Marcus was doing the same. Oh this was going to be fun.

"Let's get something out of the way," she began. "First of all I get it, you're annoyed right now because you're being questioned again. I've been there." The leader Emily and a couple of the others seemed unconvinced of her truthfulness at the moment. Now how was she going to get them to trust her and open up. "Since I'm sure Walter been telling any one he could about that particular bit of my recent past," In the back Johnathon seemed to perk up a little, Granted it wasn't just a hunch on her part but it was still damn annoying. To him specifically she added, "Just for the record, yes my former mentor did try to expose what we do. And no I had no clue he was doing it. Something I had to explain more times than I can count. Every time someone new was brought in that was always one of the first questions they asked. It got to the point as soon as I say someone new that was pretty much the first thing out of my mouth. Like I said I get the annoyance."

"Then why talk to us then if you understand so well?", Emily demanded. Which got a nod of agreement from a few of them.

"Because at this point it'll be faster to eliminate people than actually figure out who did it," she told them. "And the faster I can eliminate some names the faster I can tell Olivia we can add them to the search for the culprit. So help me eliminate some people here."

She kept eye contact with Emily the entire time. Because Jules got the feeling where she'd go the rest of them would go too, or at least she hoped that was the case. She was sure they 'd answer because Olivia told them to but she wanted the the help to come from them not because they were told to. Finally Emily looked at the rest of them and nodded, and they nodded in return. Looking back at Jules she went, "What do you want to know."

"Thank you," Jules told her. To the group she said, "Now I'm going to try and not ask you things you've been asked before. Mainly because I don't know what was asked and what your answers were, so I won't be able to compare notes from that previous session." She watched the group for any sort of reaction to what she just said, somebody relaxing a little or looking relieved, any sort of sign. But this group was giving away nothing so far. Although she did notice Emily was doing the same. Did she have doubts too? "Since I know nothing about the rotation schedule let's start there. How often do you switch spots in a day."

"We have a morning, afternoon and night rotation," Emily told her. "The vault is constantly guarded."

"What do you do if nature calls?"

"We hold it," Lynda told her sharply which got a look from Emily.

Marcus volunteered, "If we have to go bad enough we call someone who isn't on duty at that moment to cover us for a few minutes."

"And we're never gone longer than that," Emily told her. Jules nodded, well just by the smell she figured they didn't go in any part of the chamber. That would have been disgusting. But chances are Emily made sure they stayed to that few minutes. So if it was a vault guard it wasn't during their shift.

"Again I'm just trying to figure out the standard procedure here, but do you go and examine the vault chamber itself, and if you do how often?" Here they started to look at each other. "You do go back and examine the vault chamber?"

"Not regularly, "Johnathon answered

"We'll be doing it more now," Emily said. Jules was sure that was directed more towrd them than her so she said nothing.

Hector finally started to speak up, "I usually only do it if I thought I heard something. In case something was trying to get out." That got a groan from the others. Obviously something he said before, and often based on their reactions. "You don't know what's in there something could try and get out."

"Nothing is trying to get out of the vault," Lynda told him. "Even if it did you'd know before it happened."

"Having done research on a couple of the items in this particular vault," Jules told him, "that's a pretty reasonable fear to have." Somehow that didn't look like that exactly made him feel better "So it's just the seven of you assigned to guard the vault?" they nodded in response. "So what happens when somebody gets sick? Does one of the border guards get rotated in until that person is better?"

"Outside of Olivia we're the only ones who know the vault is here," Emily told her. "So somebody has to do double duty until that person gets better."

"Thanks to Walter," Johnathon said. "more people than ever are talking about a secret vault on the premise."

"I still say we should 'teach' him not to talk about things he don't know about," Lynda said, smashing a fist into the palm of her other hand to highlight her point. Which drew a warning look from Emily, although Jules did notice Hector and Johnathon silently nodding in agreement before that happened.

"I think you should probably listen to the boss lady here on that," Jules told them "Although for the unofficial record I will find something else extremely interesting if that moment happens." While Lynda and the others gave her an appreciative looked Emily was less than happy with her statement. "That's pretty much all I have for you for now. But don't be that surprised if I track you down later if a few more come to mind. That's it for now."

"You heard her," Emily spoke up, "dismissed." They all snapped to attention and left the room. All but Emily, who closed the door leaving the two of them. "You didn't eliminate anybody did you?", she asked.

"I think we can eliminate you," Jules told her truthfully, which caught the other Priest by surprise. "I was watching you, and you were watching them when they answered anything. And not in any sort of warning way that I could tell. You think it's one of the vault guards too."

She started looking as tired as Olivia probably felt in this situation. And it looked like it hurt her to admit, "So far everything seems to point to one of us. And that honestly pisses me off."

"It would me too if I was in your place," Jules told her."I didn't want to ask this with the others in the room, but are any of them acting off in any way?"

"That's the frustrating part, none of them are, at least in front of me at any rate," she said crossing her arms. "I've known most of them for years, you'd think I'd be able to notice something."

Briefly remembering what happened with Reks Jules said, "Oh believe me I know how exactly frustrating that can be. But what do you mean by most of them?"

"Hector and Johnathon only joined our ranks in the last year or so." Jules didn't say anything but that was plenty of time to figure out a way into the vault. So two people to keep a closer eye on at least. "But I vetted them pretty thoroughly before I accepted them into our ranks."

"I'm sure you did, but people can fool you," then mostly to herself she added softly, "No matter how long you knew them." Getting herself out of the funk that threatened to overtake her Jules said, "But right now we're on the same side. I'll let Olivia know that I think we can trust you here but let's keep each other in the loop about what's going on.

"Agreed," Emily said and extended a hand. Jules took it and they shook them to cement their new relationship. She didn't know about Olivia but Jules was glad they had at least one more person they could rely on.

* * *

"A black market? Come on now Nadia," Shae said as the two of them sat on that bench In front of Olivia's office building. She was just happy Jules said this was okay to that guard Olivia said was going to watch her for a few minutes while Jules continued with her investigation for the time being. And even though she promised not to tell anybody anything about the forbidden vault, Shae was surprised to learn how much the other students already knew since rumors were running rampant all over the training ground according to Nadia. But some of the things she was telling her was just too unbelievable, like this black market business.

"That's the word going around," she insisted. "Honest. I've even heard my folks talk about on occasion."

"But how would anyone not in the Order know what the stuff was?", she asked. No one outside the Order was supposed to know they even existed. So there being a underground market for items they used didn't make any sense to her.

"How am I supposed to know?", Nadia asked. "I'm just telling you what I heard. Let's ask that guard maybe he'll know." Both of them turned to where the guard was. He wasn't there any more. Both of them looked around to see where he went. While Shae didn't see the guard she did see Walter looking right at her with that stare that made her skin crawl. She reached to grab Nadia's arm to get her attention then Walter looked to the side with a curious look. Shae did the same and saw a group of students come in their direction. They didn't look pleased to see them, or her for that matter. But Walter looked pleased with what he was seeing.

"Nadia," Shae was able to get out loud enough to get her attention. She saw the crowd and quickly got in front of her.

"Can we help you?", she asked in a demanding way.

"Out of the way Nadia," one of them said, "we came to teach her the lesson she has coming." Nadia got her brush in hand and squared off with them. Shae, while she didn't have her Madou Brush still had that string she used and Jules let her keep, slowly reached into the pocket holding it. If she could put up a barrier to block them real fast then maybe the two of them could quickly get away while they were confused. She glanced back at Walter who did nothing to stop the group. Don't panic she told herself you can do this. Just stay calm and cast that spell like you've been doing since you discovered those notes.

Before she got a chance to do anything a metal spike impaled the ground in front of the crowd making them stop in their tracks. Everybody looked over where it came from and saw a furious looking Jules standing there, before marching over to the group and before they all ran off she grabbed one by the arm and pulled her out of there. It was the same one she had caught making the threat to her earlier. "You just don't listen do you?", she said as the rest of them ran away. Dragging her over to someone wearing something similar to what the people guarding the vault entrance were wearing she said, "You might want to have Olivia talk with this one."

"With pleasure," she said as she took the girls other arm.

"It wasn't my idea!", she started to protest. "It was..."

"Save it for Olivia," the guard snapped at her. She looked around and spotted Walter still standing there. "Why didn't you do anything?"

Instead of answering Walter said. "What are you going to do about her," he pointed right at Jules, "Attacking the students with that metal spike." Was he actually trying to say Jules was at fault here? For trying to protect her and Nadia? Of course he was, he blamed her for stealing from the vault the first chance he got. Then Shae saw Jules do something with her brush, and the metal spike faded away.

The guard saw it too and started smiling to herself. "What spike?" she asked. Walter pointed at where it was at then started sputtering when he realized it was gone. Seeing a couple of border guards she said, "Grab him and bring him to Olivia. She'll want to know why he was just going to let a bunch of students gang up on those two," she nodding her head toward her and Nadia.

"Now wait a minute," Walter said as he tried to get out of their grasp, but to no avail as he was soon being dragged inside with that vault guard in tow dragging the girl along with her.

In the next instant Jules was in front of the two of them looking them over, "You guys alright?"

"We're fine Jules," Shae told her. She looked relieved right before she started scanning the area, looking for that errant guard as well. Although she had a hand directly on her shoulder and was rubbing it gently.

"What was that?", Nadia asked. "They were just going to jump me and Shae. For nothing."

"I'm sure it wasn't nothing," Jules told her. As she looked at them "I warned that one girl off earlier. And I doubt she's dumb enough to just ignore that warning. Somebody had to put her and the others up to it."

"Walter?", Shae asked a little unsure of it as soon as she said it. It made sense to her seeing how he was just standing there looking satisfied at the situation. But would he really stoop that low?

"He's at the top of my suspect list too," Jules informed her. "But I doubt even he's that stupid. Close, mind you, but not that stupid."

"Over here!", somebody cried out. Shae looked over to see the person was close to where the guard watching her was supposed to be. "

"Stay here," Jules told them as she rushed over to that spot. She stopped and knelt down and checked something, looking relieved again she pulled back. Shae heard her say, "He's just knocked out. But get him some medical attention anyway." the person who yelled nodded and ran off for that help as Jules stood up. She looked around at a few others just staring in her direction. "I don't suppose anybody saw anything?", she called out. When nobody was forth coming with the answer she blew out a breath, "Of course not."

"Is that guard going to be all right?", Shae asked her when she got closer

"He's just unconscious, but he'll be fine once he wakes up," Jules assured her. Then she started to scan the area again before looking at Nadia. "You're a pretty good friend. Were you planning on fighting them all off on your own?"

Nadia started looking embarrassed, which was something Shae had never seen before now. "Somebody has to look out for Shae. Did the person who tried to frame her do this?"

Jules nodded, "It's a good bet. Come on let's get out of the open in case they try it again." While she guided them inside the building after the other person returned with help for the fallen guard Jules still looked over the area. Shae tried to do the same, not sure what to look for. But it felt better than doing nothing.

However she did manage to say, "Can you show me how you did that metal spike?"

Jules looked at her and smiled a bit, "Sure, I think we have a few free moments. How about you Nadia, you want to learn how to?" Nadia just shrugged but she wasn't looking uninterested either. Shae found herself getting a little closer to Jules as they walked toward the building.


	9. Chapter 8

Knowing Olivia for as long as she had Jules had only seen her get angry, truly angry twice. Both times just happened to be today so Jules was staring to get a little worried about her mental state. Getting that repeatedly angry in that short of time couldn't be good for her. At least this time it wasn't directed at her like it was earlier. This time the cause was Walter, and his apparent lack of effort to stop that crowd from trying to get at Shae. And given who was in the next room Jules almost felt sorry for the girl they dragged in here, almost. She did tell her she'd hold her responsible after all.

"Why were you just standing there?!" Olivia demanded, not for the first time since this meeting started. Walter again refused to say anything in his defense so far. Jules stood to the side keeping her head down the entire time. Mostly because Olivia asked to be in here for this and wanted to be respectful. But partially because if she did look Jules wouldn't be able to hide how much she was enjoying seeing him squirm, especially after all the crap he said to her when she was being investigated. Beside Olivia already aimed her ire at her once today and she wasn't in a rush to repeat the experience any timr soon. "More than one person saw you see that group threaten Shae and Nadia."

"Then why didn't they do anything then?", he shot back. Jules winced, just knowing what was coming. Apparently Walter didn't realize what he just stepped in because he kept going, "Why am I the one being signaled out?"

"This isn't about them!", Olivia forcibly told him. Here Jules glanced up and now finally Walter seemed to figure out how deep in it he currently was. "You saw a mob come at another student and did nothing to curtail it. In fact a couple enen said it looked like you were enjoying it?", Olivia stormed up to Walter, who started to back up. Jules briefly considered stepping in, but didn't telling herself she would if it looked like she was going to get physical. She was considering defending Walter, today was a weird one all right. "This is about you apparently letting a situation happen for your own sick amusement."

"She had it coming," he ended up saying. It took a moment, and Olivia getting redder and redder, for him to realize that was the wrong say at that moment. So much so Jules started to make her way forward to get between the two of them.

"You don't get to decide that!", Olivia exploded. Walter flinched so hard it look like he shrunk a foot when he did so. Then she turned her head toward her with a look that made it clear she didn't want Jules to get involved. Worried more about Olivia's reputation than Walter's safety at the moment Jules held her ground, but made it clear she wasn't moving backwards any time soon. Looking back at Walter she continued on, "We do not let mob mentality run things here or any where in the Order! Why you thought that would be acceptable in any way is inconceivable to me." She went back to her desk and dropped back into her chair. Walter opened his mouth to say something. "I don't want to hear it," she snapped at him. "Get out of here before I say or do something I'll regret."

It took a moment but Walter finally got moving. Opening the door he snarled at Shae, who was out there with Nadia. Jules saw Emily step forward since she was making sure they one they dragged in here as the ringleader didn't try and leave while this meeting was going on. Walter looked back at the two of them before walking through the door, slamming the door behind him.

Rubbing her forehead as she sat in the chair Olivia looked extremely tired. "I wish I never rescued him and brought him into the Order."

"Olivia you don't mean that," Jules said as she stepped forward. Although now she could stop wondering who saved him all those years ago. "You'll know you'll regret saying that later, after you calmed down."

She sighed, "You're right, I probably will. He had so much potential when I first brought him into the fold. I knew he was old enough to be already be set in his ways. But I hoped his mind would open, even a little, after he saw there was more to the world then what he knew." Jules sat in one of the chairs on this side of the desk and just let her talk. "I never knew what his old life was like before I came into contact with him. I realize now that's where his attitude came from, I can picture his father being the same way. If only I noticed how he was before now. I could have tried harder to help him."

"You said yourself he was good at hiding how he really felt," Jules told her. "You can't really help if you don't know the problem's there to begin with.

Olivia gave her a sad smiles Jules couldn't interpret, she soon said, "Vincent told me the same thing when I brought it up to him a few years ago." Jules quickly blinked a couple of times after hearing that. That did sound like something he would have said now that she thought about it, and probably where she got it to begin with. "You're both right of course. It just feels like I failed him sometimes."

"He's not your responsibility Olivia," she told her. "Vincent told me something once while I was growing up. You can't help the ones who don't want it. He has to want to change first, and if his way were set then chances are they're permanent by now."

"I'm aware of that Jules," she said. "It's something I try and tell myself, almost daily at this point." She looked off into the distance, Jules let her glad she appeared to be calming down at least. "You have to understand one thing, I did the one thing we weren't supposed to do and checked around with their neighbors, trying to understand why that Horror attacked that particular family. From what I heard his father was a down right horrible person and treated his wife worse than trash. He kept holding over the idea that even if she left him that she would have nothing since everything was in his name and not hers. And all the judges in that small town were all his friends since he was an officer of the law so he'd make sure she got nothing if she tried to divorce him. That poor woman was so miserable for the longest time."

With everything she'd seen and experience over the years Jules quickly guessed what Olivia wasn't saying, at least not out loud. "His mother was the Horror," Olivia leaned back and closed her eyes, "wasn't she?"

"I have no concrete proof one way or another," she said finally opening her eyes back up, "but I'm afraid she might have been. We were searching for a rumored gate for a while,but the area was so out of the way we never put that much effort into finding it. Because we didn't yet another victim fell into whatever lure the Horror baited her with. Maybe if we took it a little more seriously..."

"Olivia don't," she spoke up. "Don't do this to yourself. Even if you did find that gate before she did then she'd still be in a horrible situation. She was in a no win situation no matter how you look at it."

"I'm fully aware of that as well, as Vincent had often told me over the years. I'm also aware these things happen in cycles and I was trying to break it before it happened to some one else." she leaned back in the chair, almost like she was trying to hide herself in it. "I knew I shouldn't but I was convinced if I could save Walter that I could exercise some of my sin over that situation, imaginary or not." She was quiet for a long time before she sat back up, "Now I have another mess to deal with," she said as she waved a hand toward the door.

Jules looked back at the door than gave her hand a quick squeeze. "Well, she's been out there long enough that hopefully she scared herself into talking. So that should make things easier for you." Jules looked at her for a bit, not realizing how old she looked until just now. "You want me in here for that talk too?"

"No dear," she said patting her hand. "I'm sure I've more than have a handle on this one. Besides you still have a thief to catch. And you can't do that by holding my hand during these messes."

"Okay Olivia," Jules said getting up."But I think somebody did put her and the others up to it she was going to say who before Emily told her to save it for you. More than likely it was the thief, So this might have been his or her's first slip up."

"We can only hope," Olivia told her. Taking another moment to compose herself Olivia said, "Please send her in as you leave."

:Of course," Jules said as she left the room. On the other side of the door Shae ans Nadia looked on expectantly. Then she looked over at the other side of the room and saw Emily still guarding the girl she dragged out of that mob. She wouldn't look at her as she sat there. Right now she didn't have any sympathy for the kid. "I so don't want to be you right now." Looking at Emily she jerked a thumb toward the door, getting the message Emily nodded as she took the girl by the arm again, getting her to stand and walked her to Olivia's office Going over to the other two girls Jules asked them, "Did Walter say anything to you two?"

"No," Shae answered, Nadia nodded in agreement. "He just stormed out of here after he slammed that door."

"I'm pretty sure that guard would have done something if he tried anything," Nadia spoke up.

Looking back at the door Emily took the girl through Jules smirked slightly. "I think she would have too. Now I do believe I promised the two of you that I'd show you how to do that one spell I used." Shae perked up almost immediately, Nadia wasn't quite as evident as Shae but she seemed interested as well. "I'm pretty sure Olivia's doesn't want us to pull it off in here. So let's head to a practice range and I can show you two there." Both of them got up, right when the guard who got knocked out walked in. "Are you all right now?", Jules asked.

"Just a little woozy at the moment," he said, "but the healer's positive I'll be over it soon. I just wanted to check on Shae and Nadia. I heard about what almost happened after I got knocked out."

"We're fine," Shae told the guard as she held her arms out.

"Not a hair out of place," Nadia agreed.

"I'm glad," he said. He was obviously upset that he pretty much failed in doing his duty, despite it not being his fault to begin with. Honestly it was a refreshing change from Walter's stubbornness from a few moments ago.

"I don't suppose you saw who did it to you?", Jules asked. The thief might have made one mistake in getting that group riled up enough to go after Shae, if that girl in Olivia's office can identify the person that is. If that happened then maybe they made one more.

He started shaking his head, so much for that, "I got a glimpse of somebody walking past me then everything went black. I didn't have the chance to see who it was, sorry."

"At least you're all right," Jules told him, "that what counts." Glimpses, she thought she caught a glimpse of he person behind this earlier, now this guard had one as well. Maybe the thief was getting careless now, feeling the pressure. Or maybe they were lucky as hell. Either way Jules needed to think about what she had in terms of clues at the moment and figure out how to use them to catch this person. Turning back toward the girls she said, "Let's get to that practice range." Both of them nodded as they left the building. Jules caught Shae looking around at their surrounding. She hated that this situation made her a little paranoid, but Jules only caught it because she was doing the same exact thing. Maybe teaching a couple of teenagers wasn't the best idea to clear her head but it all she had at the moment. And the clearer her head was the faster she could figure this out.

* * *

This was getting out of hand faster than expected. It was easy enough to get most of the kids around here wound up enough that they would have went after the girl. The only obstacle in that particular plan was the unexpected presence of that guard, He was a nice enough guy, always with a friendly greeting no matter what his mood was at the time. He was also extremely lucky since he was out in the open with plenty of witnesses to hear him cry out once the blade pierced his flesh, otherwise he would have been death number one. As it was that quick knock out spell was tricky enough to cast unnoticed. Fortunately the brats choose right then to go after the girl getting everybody's attention. It was the perfect distraction to get away and move some of those items closer to that arranged extraction spot.

Then that damn woman got involved again. Who would have guessed that she would have used an actual magical metal spike to stop them. But she did and it was enough to stun the brats long enough for her to pick out one in particular and have the other guard take her inside before her and the other two girls went inside as well. The only bright spot was Walter was dragged inside as well, so while the others were watching him protest his treatment they didn't notice one person slip away from the scene. Not an ideal situation but at least a couple of the smaller items were closer to the extraction point, now to figure out how to move some of the bigger items without being noticed. Wait, there were the underground sections of the training ground, most of them were connected to each other and rarely guarded. Well that was the case for the moment, who knows when that will change. Not to mention having to find out if they were even still connected to the buildings that were torn down. That information was going to be harder to obtain now, more than likely the archivists were going to pay extra attention to any one looking at the old records now. Difficult but still doable, just had to be fast enough it didn't occur to that woman to check into it as well.

* * *

"You mean that's all it is?", a disappointed sounding Nadia asked once she showed them how to do the metal spike. Actually Shae looked a little disappointed as well that it was apparently so simple. Granted she remembered being slightly confused, alright very disappointed, as well when Vincent first showed it to her all those years ago. There was something exciting about something being more complex than it was. Looks like that hasn't changed over the years, at least with these two

Bringing her brush to the paper she channeled some of her magic through it and swiped it across the slip as the bristles glowed. Both of them watch the paper fly out of her hand, transform into a metal spike and implant itself into the target. "Afraid so," Jules said, a bit amused the the girls were still gawking at the spike. After making the spike disappear she added, "Not everything is all hand waving and motions. Sometimes it's as simple as a single piece of paper. Like that sleeping spell a lot of us learn in the more advanced sessions."

"Is that what happened to that guard?", Shae asked as Jules handed her a couple of slip of the gray paper she used to make the spikes.

"Maybe?", Jules answered while handing some to Nadia as well. "But considering it wasn't on him when they discovered him, nor did he mention somebody slapping one on his forehead so it's doubtful that's how it happened." Grabbing one for herself she took a moment to check her supply of that particular paper. "Gotta remember to make more of these later. That's were the real work is for this particular spell. I'd be willing to show you if you're still interested." Nadia just shrugged while Shae looked on eagerly. "I can do a bit more than aim and shoot them off. I can control their direction a little too." To demonstrate she faced the other direction and fired off a spike but kept her brush aimed at it this time making it pause in the air. "Could the two of you take a couple of sreps back?" When they did Jules quickly aimed the brush at the target. The spike quickly reversed direction and flew past them as it hit near the bottom of the target. "I'm not entirely that accurate doing it this way. I can hit the side of the building with no problem." She caught the question in Shae's face before she even asked it. "Long story," was all she told her. "Now you guys give it a try."

After a brief explanation of the basics Jules stepped back and let them try it. Much like when she did the first time she tried it took them a couple of times to get it. But almost at the same time both of them fired off a spike that hit the target. Shae jumped a little after she finally got it. Nadia was a bit more subdued in her reaction but it was obvious that she was pleased that she got it to work as well. "There you go," Jules told both of them as she stepped up behind them. "While you got me here is there anything else you want to know?"

Jules tried to mot get that suspicious as the girls looked at each other. Nadia was urging Shae on," Go on ask her." Shae being hesitant worried her slightly.

"What is it Shae?", Jules asked her. When she started to look away again Jules put a hand on her shoulder. "I said you can ask me anything, and you took advantage of that earlier. So don't start being afraid of asking me now."

Shae looked at her and surprised her again by asking, "Is there really a black market for Makai items?" Where was she getting these questions? Well based on Nadia urging her on there was a good chance it originated with her. And they were both looking at her waiting for an answer

Blowing out a breath Jules remembered she also told her she'd be as honest as possible. Why did she ever tell her that? Oh yeah to help build up the level of trust between the two of them. Olivia was probably going to give here another earful if she ever found this out. "I'm afraid so. Honestly that was one of my first thoughts that crossed my mind when I found out things were stolen."

"I told you," Nadia said. Okay that's exactly where that question came from.

Shae still didn't looked convinced, "Do they even know what the items are?"

"Most of the time, no they don't. At least that's what some of the buyer or sellers said the times I was assigned to track one down or break one up."

"My folks," Nadia spoke up, "said it's stuff stolen from the Order."

"Sometimes that's the case," Jules said with a nod, "sometimes it somebody who not part of the Order any more, either they left or got kicked out. Occasionally it the children or grandchildren of those who left for whatever reason and decide to get ride of the 'junk' their inherited without knowing exactly what they had. Sometime they just stumble across an old temple and think the things inside are interesting and valuable. And as hard as we try to keep it from happening information about us does gets out occasionally so people go looking for evidence we exist. There's are a lot of reasons why it happens."

"How is that even possible?", Shae asked. "I mean they're not supposed to know we exist at all, we do everything possible to make sure that doesn't happens."

"Because at the end of the day we're still human," Jules told her, "and humans makes mistakes, we're no different. Look guys, I've met Priests who forget that, even start thinking that we're above the regular humans. But we're not." Looking both in the eyes she said, "If either of you take anything away from what I'm trying to tell you, let it be that at least." Both of them looked thoughtful as they thought that over. Hopefully that was a good sign.

Given the moment Jules looked around, started seeing more and more activity from the kids staying here. Trying to remember how things around here was done when she was here learning Jules figured it was time for one of the training sessions. Looking at Nadia she told her, "I think I've kept you for too long. You better get back to your group before you get in trouble." Nadia started to say something, Jules knew what she was going to say just by the look on her face. "No arguing," she said sternly. Okay where in the hell did that voice come from? "I don't need any of the instructors around here getting on my case for taking their students."

"Fine," she said with a huff as she started to get up. Oh yeah, this one was reminding her of somebody all right. And she could almost feel Vincent's amusement over the situation if he was still here. Looking over at Shae she went, "If I see that Knight trainee you like should I tell him you said hi?" Shae started blushing immediately.

Naturally as the responsible adult she shouldn't add to the young girl's embarrassment. But Jules couldn't help herself in this situation. "You know who she likes? We're talking later."

"No," Shae quickly got out before she realized what was happening.

"You're lucky I'm not here all the time because you are way too easy to tease," Jules informed her.

"Told you," Nadia said to Shae before she started to leave.

Looking around at the other kids Jules grabbed her shoulder real fast, getting her attention. "If anybody give you any trouble about sticking up for Shae earlier, let me know."

Nadia just grinned, "Sure thing. Behave yourself Shae."

After she left Shae stepped up to Jules. After a bit she said, "I think she meant you." Looking at her Jules saw the smile she tried to hide from her. Was she really that much of a bad influence?

"Hey," she said with a slight shove. "I don't think Olivia or the others are going to be that happy at all that I brought out this side of you. Come on, I hate to do this to you again but I'm going to have to leave you with Olivia for a bit. Don't worry," she said to quickly cut off the upcoming out burst, "I'm going to give you some busy work to do while I'm out so you don't get too bored."

Shae looked a little wary, "Doing what exactly?" Yeah, that was an opening. When was this girl going to learn?

"Translating some old scrolls, doesn't that sound fun?" The look on her face said she thought it was the exact opposite of fun. Good, because Jules wasn't sure what she was going to do if she looked excited about the idea, outside of finding some old scrolls that is. Putting an arm around her shoulder as they headed off Jules told her, "No I'm not, but it's something almost as tedious. I'm going to show you how to make the seal to make those spikes. Don't worry I won't leave until I'm sure you understand it fully. And I'm going to want, let me see what sounds like a good number, at least five done by the time I get back."

Looking up at her Shae asked, "What are you going to be doing?"

"I'm going back to that spot we found," Jules told her as she looked in that general direction. "After I get some back up that is. And not you, if I knew that place had booby traps I wouldn't have taken you there to begin with." And she knew who that back up was going to be too. Hopefully Olivia knew where Emily was.


	10. Chapter 9

Fortuantely Emily was still in Olivia's office when they entered and luckily she was up to searching that area a bit more thoroughly. And Shae was obviously still disappointed that she was being left behind for this one she still paid attention while Jules showed her how to treat those slips of paper to make a metal spike. Reminding her of the minimum amount she wanted to see by the time they returned Jules and Emily headed off. Looking around seeing how her and Shae were being followed last she came this way caught Emily doing the same. "Feeling paranoid?", she asked in a light tone.

"That and frustrated," came a surprisingly candid if understandable reply. "My only job here is to protect the vault." Both of them quieted when they passed some students. No need to add fuel to that particular fire. Although Jules did look back to see if the kids were looking back at them or gave any indication that they were talking about the "secret vault". And she did halfway expect to see Walter still stalking around behind them somewhere. Or if they were extremely lucky more than a glimpse of the thief. After a few feet Emily started talking again, "I was actually insulted when I found out things were stolen from under our very noses. And the idea that one of my people could be responsible, it makes me sick to my stomach."

"I've been a little afraid to ask Olivia this," Jules began, "Just because I'm not sure what kind of answer I'm going to get. But who else knows about the vault and what it contains?" Quickly adding after they passed another group of students, "Not as a rumor that is."

"Outside of you?", Emily went. "To my knowledge, Just Olivia, myself and the other guards. And it's looking more and more like one of mine was responsible with every question you ask and everything you find out."

"I'm amazed I'm trying to increase the suspect pool at this point," Jules said in a joking manner. Still it might be better to get this out of the way now. "Did Olivia tell you that whomever did this was able to get past the seals on the containers in the vault?" Emily nodded. "I have to ask this but are any of the guards under you capsble of pulling that off? Maybe spent a little extra time researching something they wouldn't really talk about?"

"I've been racking my brain asking myself those same questions," was her reply. "And nothing is coming to mind or sticking out as something strange. As far as who would be capable of pulling that off," she let out a short, almost angry sounding laugh, "we all are. Being able to perform or create complex spells is a prerequisite to be a vault guard, Olivia practically insisted on it."

"I'm sure she's rethinking that now," Jules commented. Looking up she realized they were almost there and took one more look around to make sure they weren't being followed. She'd even take another glimpse of the thief right about now. Because that would mean that person was at least here and not back with the others causing more trouble, since Jules was still sure the thief was behind those kids going after Shae earlier. Speaking of that particular situation, "Since we're alone, did that kid say anything?"

"Just that a Makai Priest she'd never seen before talked her and the others into it. Outside that it was a male she couldn't really describe him, saying he kept a hood over his head."

"They listened to a guy who wouldn't even show his face?", Jules said in disbelief.

"I know," she said sounding aggravated. "It seemed a bit far fetched to me too. Olivia's holding out on the hope that the guy used some sort of spell to confuse her and the rest in that group instead of the kid making somebody up to save her own skin." It was likely that was what happened. It made more sense than them listening to somebody who wouldn't even show his face while talking to them. There were a few ways to disguise oneself that she could think of off the top of her head, and for one of them the the less your face was visible the better which would explain the hood. Just another reminder that they were dealing with somebody who knew what they were doing. Jules caught herself trying to recall if one of those ways could make a person think a female was a male then stopped herself. Just put that one on the back burner for now she told herself. We're still trying to shrink the suspect pool not grow it like she had been. She really had to stop that, it was just making her job harder in the long run.

"It's over there," she said once she recognized the bush her and Shae had hid behind earlier. Going past it she lead Emily to the spot. They found it soon enough, and the trap she saw earlier was still there. "And there it is." Emily stepped closer and knelt down to get a better look at. Something about her face as she looked at it gave Jules a slight chill. "I'm guessing you recognize it?"

"Unfortunately," she grumbled with out rising up. Her gaze was transfixed on that seal for a long time, Jules just waited for her to say something, and stand guard at the same time. A habit she developed since teaming with Carter. There's been more than one time that they were surprised by the Horror they were hunting because both of them were focusing on the same clue one of them had discovered. And now would be the perfect time for the thief to come up behind them and catch them bu surprise. Eventually Emily stood up and told her. "That's one of the seal used on the forbidden vault. A fail safe in case anything or anyone tried to get in or out. All the vault guards know how to use it. There's no way you could have disarmed this, not without help from one of us."

Only her pride made her feel a little insulted by that statement. Fortunately the more rational part of her mind made Jules realize that Emily knew more about this particular trap than she did, and concieded to her expertise on this one. A small part still thought she could do it though. "I get the feeling it's not a quick work around either."

"No it is not," Emily said as she backed away. ""The thief, after putting the vault items down there, had to leave himself a way in. We should look for that entrance."

"That's if they're in there," she said looking around. Glancing over at Emily Jules couldn't help but notice the look she was giving her. Granted it did seem like she was trying to make things more difficult than necessary. But in this case, she actually wasn't. "Blame it on all the Horror hunting I've done," she told her. Adding, "You learn not to take things at face value." She nodded, seemingly accepting her explanation, and they started exploring the area. "We should check around for where the other buildings were as well. That could be how he's getting in there."

"Agreed," Emily said with a nod. Both of them spread out and searched the area. Jules tried to recall were those buildings used to be as she kept an eye on the ground. It only made sense, if the Priest who used to run this training ground didn't fill in that one they wouldn't have filled in the others. "I found another one!", Emily called out.

"Same here!" Jules shouted back. Like with the first site she found these boards haven't look like anybody had touched them recently either. Actually these boards looked to be in worse shape than the ones covering the first sight, and those looked pretty bad. On the upside it didn't look like this one was booby trapped in any way. Looking back over at Emily Jules saw that she moved on to another spot. "Was there a trap on that other one?"

"No," she replied. "There isn't one on this one either. I'm almost afraid to touch either of them. They look like they'll disintegrate as soon as something does."

"It's the same over here," Jules said as she headed toward her. Then she caught a glimpse of another set of of boards, when she remembered something from that map, there were six buildings that used to be in this area. And they found where five of them were. Looking around she could easily see were the five they found used to be, based on how the ground was sunken in so where was that sixth one? The Earth around them looked relatively smooth. Jules blinked as it hit her. "You sneaky little devil," she said to herself softly. "The thief's hiding it!" she called out to Emily. "Where the building used to be. He's hiding it like he did that opening to the tunnel to the vault."

"You think that's how he's hiding the items he stole?"

"Well if he is hiding them in that other spot it could be like I said and it's how he's getting in." Jules said as she visually searched the ground, a bit afraid to move in any direction she hadn't been yet because more than likely those boards weren't in any better shape than the other they found. At least she wasn't the only one being paranoid as Emily was staying where she was as well, although she was poking at the ground with the blunt end of her spear trying to find it. Jules knelt down and started drawing in the dirt with her finger, first getting where the ones they found were and trying to remember were that sixth building was. It had to be around here somewhere. "Stay where you are," she told the guard.

"I wasn't exactly going to go for a stroll," she shot back. Ignoring her for the moment Jules took out her Madou Brush, waving a hand over the bristles, making them glow. Then she slowly moved it in an arc just trying to see if she could sense anything that was out of place, magically speaking that is. Seeing what she was doing Emily drew her brush and started doing the same. Granted she never tried this with anything this big before, but in theory that should mean it was using more energy to conceal what it was hiding. In theory. After a bit Jules thought she detected something and kept her brush pointed at it. Emily seemed to be pointing her brush at the same general area as she was. Both took cautious steps toward that spot. As Jules got closer the more certain that she was that she was picking something up. So certain in fact she tried to circle around the spot, her brush kept pointing at the same general spot Emily was. Putting up her brush Emily started poking the ground again. Before long the spear went through the ground in a way Jules had seen before.

She broke out in a slight grin, "Bingo." Getting on her knees by Emily she started patting the ground in front of her until her hand went through the illusion, there wasn't any boards that she could tell. Keeping it in there she pulled her hand back until she got a grip on the edge. Getting a grip with her other hand she leaned over until her head went through it. Still no boards but this one had a basement so she looked around as best as she could. Raising up she pointed at a particular corner, "There's a ladder over there." Emily stuck her spear back into the illusion and used the edge as a guide to get to that corner. Feeling around a bit she found the ladder and made her way down. Jules hurried over before she vanished from view completely and followed her down.

"I wonder why the Thief decided to hide this one," Emily commented as she looked around what was left of the underground room. So far it was a less than impressive discovery on their part. Jules looked up, this one didn't have any sign of those boards that she could tell, they might have decayed years ago. If they did than that was how the thief found this place. "It's not even the closest one to the other one you found I'm not even seeing a way to get there from here. Unless it's hidden by a illusion too."

"That would be a bit paranoid," Jules commented. But she waved a hand over the bristles of her brush again and started scanning the room by slowly turning in a circle, "But more than possible considering what we've seen so far." She spun around twice before lowering her brush, "I'm detecting the illusion above us and that's about it." So she started checking the walls, maybe there was a covered opening like the one she found in the vault chamber. There just had to be one, the thief was hiding this particular basement for some reason. Emily soon joined in and they carefully explored the room. Jules knew she wasn't going to get lucky with a stray breeze this time around so she paid extra close attention to the walls.

Emily was getting more frustrated by second. Blowing out a breath she looked above them. "You think the thief would notice if we canceled the illusion?"

Jules looked up at it. "More than likely. The thief doesn't know we found this yet. Let's not give up the one advantage we have so far."

"As slim as it is," Emily said as she continued looking. Jules said nothing but she had to agree it was a small one. But after finding that tunnel and now this it was better than nothing. After a bit more searching Emily said, "I might have found something."

"Let me see," Jules said as she headed over. Emily pointed out the area and she examined that section of wall. It took a bit but she found what the guard did, a seam in the wall. Again using her fingers she traced a rough outline of a door sized opening. "Well on the bright side I doubt the thief would have set a trap on this one."

"It be easier if he did and he blew himself up by accident," she commented. Glancing over at her as they tried to find a way to move this particular section Jules wondered how much was the frustration she was feeling was actually getting to her. Jules personally wanted to know who did this and if that seal was a powerful as she thought it was then there wouldn't be that much left to identify the thief by. "I don't want him dead," she said suddenly. "But at least it would be over and things would almost be back to normal?"

"Almost back to normal?", Jules asked, stepping back when Emily motioned for her to do so.

As she jammed the point of the spear into the gap she clarified, "More people know there's some sort of vault here now. That's going to cause problem eventually after you leave. With people trying to look for it. And we have an way in now that's practically out in the open."

"For now," Jules said as she joined in as they tried to leverage this section open. "I haven't discussed it with Olivia yet, but I have a explosive seal of my own that I can use to collapse that tunnel after this is all over. I'm just not sure she'd go for it."

"If she doesn't I will," Emily informed her as they finally got it opened enough for Jules to put her fingers in the gap and slide it to the side with a bit of effort. They were greeted by a dark tunnel. Emily looked around before concentrating on the tip end of her spear. Using her brush she made the tip catch on fire for a makeshift torch. Jules followed her, occasionally looking back to make sure they weren't caught by the thief. The tunnel took a sharp turn. "I'm pretty sure this way is to that other site," Emily said before following the tunnel. Jules couldn't disagree as that was her first thought as well.

While it wasn't exactly a straight shot, there was a few extra turns to take. But essentially they were heading in the same direction. Before long Emily held up a hand to get them to stop and she extinguished the flame from her spear before they entered another basement that was a bit bigger than the first one they came into. And a bit more crowded as several boxes littered the room. In the light Jules heart dropped a little as some of them were open. A quick inspection revealed that most of the open ones were empty. "Damn it," she muttered. She did a quick examination of the others and realized one of her biggest fears was just realized. "It's not here."

"What's not here?", Emily asked as she used her spear to pick up something off the ground. It looked like it could have been a hood, so it looked like at least part of the kid's story was at least true. Lucky for her.

"The Condemned," Jules said. Emily didn't look as alarmed as she felt at that particular moment. She guessed the guards didn't have to know what they were guarding. Given how jumpy Hector was about something getting out, that was probably a good thing. Still she answered her unasked question. "Something that's given me nightmares ever since I was asked to help research it. More than likely the thief is moving things to another location when he can do what he originally planned."

"Probably after you got involved," Emily said as she cautiously looked around. "I'm not sure I want to know what most of this stuff is." Jules pretty sure she had a similar look on her face when she first started researching some of these items, a bit of awe and fear at the same time. Although Jules did it reading through various books and scrolls Vincent was able to track down. Jules hoped there was a bit more fear in the guard seeing how they were looking at the items directly. As it was she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she recognized something here and there. Still Jules pulled a blue slip of paper out of her coat after she examined one box in particular. "A tracker?", Emily asked.

"I'm betting on the thief getting a bit greedy," she said as she waved her brush over it as to activate it. "Because more than likely this stuff is going to be sold off, and the more he has the bigger the pay day." Placing the seal against one particular item in the crate before quickly removing her hand like she was afraid she was going to get bit. As she rubbed her hand, she didn't feel anything from the item it was just the idea she touched it, the seal faded from view. Reaching into another pocket she retrieved a small disk that she waved her brush over. The magical radar appeared and she smiled at the pulsating dot near her location. "And that one is just small enough to be carried without being that noticeable."

Emily looked into the crate, "Neat trick."

"Thanks," she said. "I looked it up after I saw Vincent do it one time." Jules closed her eyes as she recalled that moment. When Vincent put his hand on the back of Reks' neck after he placed the talisman that would eventually kill him,. "It's been useful on a couple of occasions so far. Hopefully the thief will come back for some more. If we don't catch him we can at least discover where he relocated some of the things that were stolen."

"I'd settle for catching him," Emily said as Jules walked around and picked another item and tagged it as well, at least it was better than wanting him dead. Doing it a third time just to increase their odds if nothing else. Then she did it to one of the crates just to be sure. "We better go," she said after that one. "Since it look likes it's one of mine who's behind this and I want to pound him into the ground personally. Doing it in here doesn't seem to be the best idea."

Jules caught a look of another thing she was asked to help research and backed away a bit saying, "That's literally the best idea I've heard so far today. Let's get back to Olivia and tell her what we found." Like they went in Emily lead the way after turning her spear into a torch again. Before entering the tunnel Jules stopped and looked back at the items that were still here. Hoping that leaving these items here wasn't going to be the mistake that a sudden fear made her think that it would be. Trying to quell that thought with the fact the thief just left them laying around here and nothing happened so far. It wasn't helping much as she followed Emily back to the other basement.

* * *

She didn't know how long investigating that spot was suppose to take but they had to be back by now, or at least that was what Shae was thinking as she sat there by herself. It might not had been so bad if she was outside. At least that way she could have least gotten a better sense at how long it had been. Or had somebody to talk to to help pass the time. Bur every one was sure the person who stole the things from the vault was the one behind the incident earlier. At least that was what Olivia had told her earlier, and that it was better for her to stay in here for the time being. It made sense, and there was a chance nobody would have been around to stop it from happening. Didn't mean it wasn't still boring though. Sighing as she took another slip of grey paper she marked it like Jules showed her then held it out as she ran the glowing bristles over her brush, a concession Olivia allowed seeing how both she and Jules were positive the thief was still out there, over it to finish the incantation. The markings glowed slightly before returning to normal, another one done and added to the small pile next to her.

She looked up as the door opened, and she brightened considerably as Jules and that guard came in. She couldn't help herself as she jumped out of the chair and went to her. "Are you all right?", she asked. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes on both counts," Jules told her. Then she looked over to see the pile she created while the two of them were gone. Shae almost expected her to whistle at the sight. She almost did, or at least it looked like she was going to start to. Shae looked back, it didn't look like that much to her. Eventually Jules said, "That's a bit more than five." Then she walked around her and picked it up, "I've seen how you keep your side of your room and all but this is the neatest messy pile I've ever seen."

That what was amazing her? How neat it was? Not how many she's done? Granted once she got the gist of how to do it, it was a fairly simple spell to preform. But that was a lot she had gotten done in the time they was gone, at least as far as Shae was concerned. Wait she had to be messing with her again, she just had to Shae watched her as she flipped through the pile, it had to be coming any second now. But it wasn't she soon realized, she was actually amazed at how she arranged them. Feeling a bit disappointed she said, "I was bored."

"That much was obvious," the guard told her with a bit of a smirk.

"Looking good so far," Jules muttered as she continued to flip through them. Then she fanned them out slightly and held them out to the guard, "Emily, do me a favor and pick one out for me." Without even questioning the request she pulled one out at random and held it out for her as she rearranged the pile back to where Shae had it. "Thank you, that's the one we're going to test out."

"Test out?", Shae asked as Jules kept examining the paper.

"I'm not going to show you how to do something and not see if it'll work," Jules told her. "I'm not even an instructor and I know that's now how things are done. And we will right after Emily and I talk with Olivia."

"I can fill in Olivia on what we found," Emily told her after glancing at her. "All the guards use a practice range in the back of the building. The two of you can test it out there."

Looking her over Jules nodded slightly, "Yeah, she does look like she wants to see if this will work. Thanks Emily, tell Olivia I'll be in once I see if this works properly." The guard quickly gave her directions to that particular range and how to get in. Jules nodded once she got it, "Thanks Emily, come on Shae."

Still a little depressed she wasn't excited at how much she did Shae went, "All right." They walked the corridors in relative silence. She looked at the floor while Jules kept looking at the paper when she wasn't making sure they were going the right way.

"I'm sure it's going to work," she said suddenly. "This is just a formality, I went through the same thing when I was younger." Adding, "That's why you're so quiet right, that I'm testing it out." She didn't answer right away so Jules stopped and looked at her, "Shae what bothering you if that's not it?"

"I just thought you'd be impressed with how many I got done," she told her.

"Is that it?", Jules asked her. Wasn't that enough? "Shae I figured you were going to do more than what I asked you to do, why do you think I made that number so low? I didn't want you to drain yourself too much trying to get too much done. Granted," she said as she flipped through them again, "I didn't think it was going to be this much more, so good job there." Shae beamed a little but still kept her head down. She was proud of what she'd done. "Ah here we are."

Shae looked up to see that the practice range was still inside the building. It had all the same targets and dummies they had in the other ranges plus a couple she didn't recognize. Jules caught her staring at one of the signs on the wall. It was in the makai language and she was able to make out most of it before Jules blocked her view of it. "What was that about memory manipulation?"

"That's a more advanced class," Jules told her as she guided her to the targets. Adding, "It's nothing you have to worry about now, all Makai Priest have to know how to do it, just in case somebody who's not suppose to know about us does." Shae nodded, remembering her aunt saying something about it with her parents a couple of years ago. "Now let's see how you did." Taking her brush Jules quickly swiped it across the slip. Shae was excited that it transformed into a metal spike in mid flight and impale itself into the target. She looked at Jules who looked impressed as she nodded than walked toward the target, Shae followed her. Once she was close she gave it a quick flick with her fingers and again looked satisfied with the metallic ping she got. "That's some excellent quality right here, good job Shae."

"Thank you," she said with some pride. "I didn't think something that came from paper was going to be that strong. I mean would it burn up it went through fire?"

"No," she said as she flicked it again, "This is as solid as it gets. Granted I've never shot it through fire before." She trailed off as it looked like something occurred to her. "No way the problem is that simple." Then she remembered Shae was still there. "Just something I was trying to figure out the past few days," she said as she put an arm around her shoulders and walked them toward the door.

"What problem?" she asked her.

"I was trying to mix the spike with another spell I use. I was so focused on making it work I never considered if it could work, or how I was going to use it. Oh that reminds me," she turned back to the spike and did something with her brush to make it disappear. Offering her a bit of a grin Jules told her, "That's going to be lesson two." Going back to the slips she worked on Shae watched her count out four. "Okay these plus the one I tested are the five I asked for." Then she surprised her by handing her the rest of them to her, "Here you go."

"Are you serious?", Shae asked as she took them and a few extra slips of unprepared paper.

"And I'm not going to show you something and not expect you to practice it. Either. I'll tell you how to get the slips on your own. Just one thing," Shae got depressed again as she sighed and handed back her brush. "Well there's that but that wasn't what I was going to say," she added as she held up a finger, "don't practice your aim toward or in your house. The last thing I need is your parents tracking me down because you kept making holes in the walls." Shae quickly nodded her agreement as they left the practice range.

* * *

There had to be a way to turn this into an advantage some how. Emily and that woman had headed back to the area she had taken the girl earlier. There was no way she was going to be as cautious now that she left the brat with Olivia. And Emily was going to recognize the trap as soon as she saw it. Olivia would have recognize it as well since she taught it to all of them, it was a calculated risk but a necessary one considering what was hidden under it. Anything that disturbed those boards and it would have went off as soon as the vibration hit the seal. So the big question was would Emily try to disarm it or would they try to found the other way to get in there?

Either one would take time so there was plenty of it to cause a little confusion to distract the rest of them when they got back. And the target was right there by himself, perfect. Leaning against a tree with his arms crossed while he looked at the ground everyone was giving him a wide berth at the moment, well wider than they usually did. At the moment he looked like the loneliest guy in the world. Granted he looked like that the first time he showed up, and it soon became apparent why the moment he opened his mouth. But right now he looked like that more than ever. Again it was a calculated risk because someone could easily spot them talking. Considering how hard headed he was even he wouldn't fall for the disguise trick he pulled on those kids earlier. Besides that would mean going back for the hood, and that was back with the items stashed away. And there was no way Emily and that woman wasn't going to spot any one trying to sneak by them in that area. So calculated risk it was, after making sure none of the regular guards were keeping an eye on him after earlier, Okay make with a cheery yet concerned voice, "Walter."

Surprised that anyone was calling out his name he looked up and gave a half hearted smile as he waved, "Careful, you don't want to be labeled a pariah being seen talking to me."

If anything would have done it, this would be it. If they could prove who stole those things being labeled a pariah would have been an upgrade. "That's the least of my worries. But why so down, I heard you lost that student of yours but I thought that would have made you happy. Now you don't have to worry about her dragging you down any more. Now you can get a proper student to teach."

"I doubt it," he said darkly. "I overheard the others talking. They're going to make sure I don't get a chance to," he held up both hands and did the qoute mark thing, "'corrupt' anyone else." He looked so disgusted by the idea that one could alnost sympathize with the idiot, almost, after a hard night of drinking. "They're probably celebrating that guilty bitch started undoing all the work I put in on the brat they gave me."

"Nobody celebrating," But they should be, "Just because you think a little differently than everyone else doesn't mean you're wrong." In this case it did but best not to say that thought out loud especially when trying to get his ire pointed in the right direction. It shouldn't take much most of it was already aimed at that woman to begin with. He didn't need to go over the edge completely, just enough to get her and everybody's attention. "They forget that at times."

"Tell me about it," he grumbled. Oh this one seemed ripe to be taken over by a Horror at some point. He'd probably walk right into too. Is that why Olivia kept him around?

"A lot of them have that superiority complex to any one not originally part of the order. They're particularly nasty when you don't immediately confirm to they're way of thinking right away. I've seen it, I'm a second generation Makai Priest in my family. My parents were like you, they came into the Order late in life. Dad always complained they ruined Mom for as long as I can remember, making her more independent than she needed to be," and there was the look of recognition that bold face lie was supposed to get. Walter was looking this way with a new look of respect, It took everything not to throw up right then and there. "So I get you man."

"Finally somebody around here does," he said. "When did the Order lose sight of the way things were meant to be."

"I don't know, as far as I know the Order always been like this. It didn't even change after the witch trails in the northeast centuries ago."

"They should have learned then." This idiot was too easy to manipulate. Every one in the Order learned about the trails that hit them in this country, that a Makai Priest was caught using her abilities defending the same village that hanged her as a witch from a Horror. The Order did what they could to contain the damage of course. History still recorded the witch trails but their involvement was carefully removed after it happened. Still those poor woman who lost their lives because of a bunch of backwater superstitious nonsense. "You can't trust a woman to do the right thing," Walter went on.

Or act like you expected her to in some cases, today was perfect proof of that. "Oh I know, but those ideas are quickly shot down, mostly by the women around here."

"Oh I noticed," Walter practically snarled. "And it starts at the top around here." Okay that was a tad surprising considering Olivia gave him more leeway than she did anybody else around here. There had to be a way to use that to the proper advantage.

And this might be the right way. "Well the others are pretty set in they're ways." Walter looked interested in where this was going, now to get him to take the bait. "They're not going to change no matter how hard you try to show them they're wrong." Almost like it was planned a group of young children ran by not noticing them, "You need to make them understand when they're young. Before they twist their little minds to think like them."

"They'll be keeping an eye on them," Walter said, the idea firmly planted in his head now. "Make sure I don't get any time alone with them to show them the way things should be. Especially after that bitch got Shae away from me."

"Nobody said revolutions were easy," he nodded in agreement. Oh there were going to be several showers in the immediate future once this meeting was over. "And they got to start somewhere."

"Right," Walter gave a quick pat on the shoulder. Forget that initial shower it was straight into the lake to get the filth from the physical contact off, maybe burn this tunic at the first possible opportunity. "Nice to know I have one friend around here," and he walked off.

Walter was out of sight in moments and it couldn't happen fast enough. "I just feel disgusted with myself right now," but it was a necessary evil. That moron grabs they're attention then the easier it'll be to get away and get the stuff out of here to the buyer who should be at that spot in a few hours. Then it was all a matter of counting the money after the exchange was made.


	11. Chapter 10

"I'm very impressed with how far you've come Shae," Olivia had said. Not that Jules didn't notice the little side look she gave her after she found out exactly what she taught her and Nadia. But it was no worse than what Olivia showed her earlier, at least in Jules' opinion."I do think I should mention what Jules said about practicing toward or in the house applies to what I showed you as well."

"Of course ma'am," Shae said with a nod. Shae wasn't her student, at least not officially, so Jules probably shouldn't be feeling as prood of her as she was. But she couldn't help it. Olivia was right, considering how she was when she first met her Shae had come a long way. She was going to have to remember to ask the other instructors around here to see if this was what she was like before Walter got his mits on her. A thought for later if there was time.

Right now there was a more pressing matter. "I don't want to do this to you kiddo," she began.

She seemed to understand as she said, "Go in the other room while you talk with Olivia."

"I'll try not to be long," Jules told her. "But call me if anybody tries anything."

"Oh Shae," Olivia called out, "before I forget again. I found this scroll that I had forgotten about." Going over to an old wooden bookcase she looked at a couple before finding the right one, "Here it is." Walking over to the girl she handed it out to her. "It's about string magic," and Shae perked up immediately at hearing that. Olivia just smiled as Shae took it," I believe I heard you developed a interest in it. This might be helpful in your studies on that particular subject."

"Thank you," she said gratefully as she exited the room.

Jules watched her take a seat and start reading that scroll before she made sure nobody else was in the room or coming in before she closed the door to give the two of them a little more privacy. Then she looked at Olivia with a slight smirk, "You just happened to have a scroll in here about that?"

"I did," Olivia said sounding offended that she would think otherwise. "I originally had it brought to me when a former student you're very familiar with took an interest in it. I've always tried to encourage a student's curiosity when they discover something that's not that common any more. And I was reorganizing things in here a few weeks ago when I found it again." She started shaking her head slightly, "Walter mentioned Shae was wasting her time after finding some notes. Obviously he never saw any value in it so I kept looking for the right time to give it to her when he wasn't around." Once again Jules wondered why it took so long for her to see why that pairing was a bad idea. But she kept herself from saying that thought out loud. Olivia explained why she put them together originally, and held stead fast to that idea despite the apparent protest from the others. Well the important thing was she saw the error now while the damage could be undone.

Now onto the other unpleasant business they had to discuss. "Emily told you everything?"

Losing a bit of that smile she had Olivia went, "She did. Part of me was still hoping that it wasn't one of the vault guards." She went back to her desk, "But like Emily said it's looking more and more like one of them did it." Leaning on that desk she softly added, "At least I don't have to keep the rest of those under me at arms length now, so there's that. Just the ones I had to trust the most."

"Small victories Olivia," she said. "Hold on to them before looking for the big one."

Smiling sadly again she said, "Once again Vincent told me something similar once." And once again Jules figured she was right because that did sound like something he would have come out with. Unfortunately that made her wonder what he would have considered a small victory when he was trying to expose everything.

"I don't mean to bring up any unpleasant thoughts dear," Olivia said reading her. It only annoyed her because on how on the mark she was at that moment.

"It's fine," she ended up saying, trying to make herself believe it at same time. Forcing herself to get on the task at hand she said, "Stuff did look like it had been moved though. Even though I marked a few items there's no guarantee the thief will go back for more. We should check the general area around there more closely. My gut feeling is that these items were taken to be sold off."

"Emily mentioned something about that," Olivia told her. Shaking her head again she went, "Sometimes you forget we still have the base needs like those not in the Order, and the same weaknesses. You can really forget that when you's picked to help guide the those fresh, hopeful faces, you can get lost in it if you're not careful. It's why I always looked to a Priest who dealt with the reality of the situation on a regular basis when choosing a new instructor. Not to frighten the students, but to give them a idea of what they'll be dealing with once they leave here." Getting herself out of this particular funk she walked over to that map they used earlier, "So were do you think we should concentrate our search? I'm going to ask the border guards to handle this, hopefully, at least Emily will understand my decision in this matter."

:I'm sure they all will," Jules told her, "especially after we catch the thief." Then she studied the map. She should have asked if her and Emily could have taken this with them earlier. They could have found that sixth spot a bit sooner. Pointing to a section near that spot Jules said, "I'd start around here. There's a smaller chance of being caught moving them since I doubt the thief's dumb enough to walk out the front gates with the items."

"Or that bold," Olivia added. "It's not widely known yet but I instructed the guards at the gate to search any one leaving the training grounds." Jules nodded as she studied the map a bit more, trying to think like the thief. Would he expect them to look around there and avoid the area entirely?.

Then a thought hit her. "Olivia," she began, "those surveys Marcus found, did they indicate any other tunnels under the training ground? I'm just trying to figure out all the bases before I can say they're covered."

"I had that same thought after the two of you left the first time with Shae," she answered. "I went over what I had here looking for any records." She went back to that bookcase and started searching it's contents again. No, she was moving things before pressing various spots on the wall. She soon found it as a panel fell open and pulled out an old scroll, "This goes back to when the vault was first built, I sent word to the Senate record keepers since that is were it would be kept, it arrived a half hour ago."

"Anything dealing with a forbidden vault gets top priority I guess," Jules commented with a slight smirk while Olivia carefully unrolled the scroll.

"I'd be surprised if it wasn't," she told her with a snort. "There's a report of some sort of large cavern under the vault itself. There was some concern at the time of how structurally sound it would be. It doesn't say how they found it though. But if they found a way to it once."

"Somebody could find a way to it again," Jules finished for her. "Would there be any word of this cavern be in the archives here?"

"I already checked them," she said as she rolled them up just as carefully as she undid it before placing it back in it's hiding spot. "And there's none that I can find. I still have the archivist looking though since they have the time and privacy."

"I hope you told them it had top priority," Jules said as she tried to add this particular piece to this would an underground cavern fit in this situation? If it fit at all? This was why she hated putting puzzles together without know what the picture was first.

Then Olivia went, "Oh I'm fool." Jules looked at her wondering were that came from. "I'm a old fool. There's series of tunnels under the training grounds. They were built around at the same time as the grounds were built." She went to a different bookcase as she kept talking, "Before all the protective talismans and seals were put in place. They were supposed to be used to get the students out of here in case a Horror attacked or the woods around us caught on fire or any number of disasters. We rarely use them for anything so I rarely remember them."

"Do they lead outside?", Jules asked. Now this was the puzzle piece she was looking for.

Olivia found what she was looking for and unrolled another map and showed it to her. "Yes they do. At a couple of locations. And before you ask all the guards know about them as part of their training since they would be taking the lead in case we did have to evacuate. If only I remembered these sooner."

"You had a lot on your mind Olivia," Jules told her. Looking back and forth between this new document and the old map on the wall she tried to think. Okay there this huge section around this building that was void of these tunnels. It was probably when this particular vault was rediscovered, so don't concentrate there she told herself. Instead she looked at where the old buildings were on the map on the wall. "Okay if those buildings were here," she said to herself, "and the closest opening is...," It was in the other direction than her initial guess. "Have them start around here," she told Olivia. "It's still far away enough from the training grounds that the thief shouldn't have worried about being spotted by anybody else."

"I'll do it right away," she said. Without warning one of the guards burst in the room. Jules looked past her to make sure Shae was all right. She was fine but looked as confused as the two of them about what was going on. Olivia went to her once the shock wore off, "What is it Samantha?"

"Walter forced his way to some of the younger kids," she said between breaths, "He keeps talking about showing them how things are supposed to be. He knocked out Caleb and Antony before anybody could stop him. The other guards are with him to make sure nothing happens to the kids so I came here to report it."

"My god," Olivia said as she held on to the desk for support.

"He had to had to have been put up to it Olivia," Jules quickly said. It had to be the thief, it just had to be, trying to distract them by getting Walter to go this route. For Olivia's sake Jules hoped he was put up to it. Otherwise than he went over the deep end on his own. "I'll handle this," she told her. To the guard she said, "Show me where they are." She ran out of the building, vaguely aware Shae was following them. There was no time to argue the point, the faster this was dealt with the sooner she could get back to the finding the thief.

* * *

"Damn it they moved," the guard, Samantha, exclaimed when the spot came into view. Jules was almost irritated enough at the moment to almost snap at her that much was obvious. But she held her tongue, it wasn't her that was making her frustrated at that particular moment, it was this entire situation. At least Shae was smart enough to stand a few feet back to stay out of the way. Jules looked around trying to see where they went. If the guards had defused the situation word would have been sent word to Olivia by now and chances where they would have crossed path with the messenger by now. At least come across them bringing Walter to Olivia's office. Neither of those two happened. Since the latter didn't happen, there was a small possibility that a messenger took a different route to get to Olivia's but Walter being dragged away quietly, that wasn't going to happen.

The three of them looked around until all three of them spotted a crowd not that far off," Over there," Jules said as she ran toward that particular group, the rest following her. The closer they got the clearer it was that something was going on.

"Just let them go," she heard somebody said.

Then they heard Walter, "I'm not going to hurt them. They just have to know how things really are before you fill their heads with that fantasy you tried to shove down my throat for years." Jules, Samantha and Shae made their way through the crowd, Walter spotted her first and started frowning almost immediately. Then he spotted Shae before she could get behind her. "And there's the perfect example right there. I had her almost looking like a proper lady, now look at her," he sneered. "Now look at her, dressed like a man. It's sickening." Oh yeah it was possible he was close to snapping all right.

"I've been in what you call the real world," Jules said stepping forward to draw his attention more. "Or did you forget about that? Or care at all? I'm not saying there are men out there who don't think like you, I've run across them plenty of times in my life." She had to be careful here, he was close to the edge right now, more so than she originally thought, and he had his brush in his hand. But most of her attention was to the kids behind him. They looked unharmed but obviously scared. And Walter seemed to know when one was about to make a run for it as he kept turning to the group to keep them in place. She almost wished one would as it would grab Walter's attention long enough for them to grab and restrain him. But that wasn't happening. So her best play was to force him to pay attention to her. Now the tricky part, "But they were a very small minority of the regular humans I come across."

"Don't listen to her lies!," Walter yelled at the children.

"It's not a lie," she shot back. "I hunt Horrors, I deal with people pretty much daily. I've seen their worst and their very best. And that attitude," she pointed right at him," is dying out. It had been for a long time. I feel sorry for you in a way, I really do. Your father was so behind the times and set in his ways that he passed those feelings onto you not realizing he was making you as screwed up as he was."

"My father was a good man!" he exploded. Oh this was danger territory right here, depending on what he knew. " He should have been sainted for dealing with my so called Mother. My Mother was weak that's why she died first. If she was stronger, like the two of us, than she would have survived."

"Your father was a bully who unfortunately had power behind him, and was the only one who was killed in that situation," she shot back. "And you probably joined in making her life miserable." She made a hand motion behind her back to Shae, hoping she'd get the idea to keep back, because here it comes, "To the point a Horror possessed her."

His face went slack, like he was in shock. Did he not know, after all this time? Glancing around Jules saw a few of the other look like they were trying to sneak around him. Keep his attention on you she told herself. "No," he said shaking his head. "That's not what happened. Even if it was it just proves my point, if she a man she would been strong enough to resist..."

"That's now how it works," she snapped at him just to shut him up for the moment. "Everyone here knows how it works," she almost gave into the temptation to hold her arms out wide to gesture to everybody around them. But that would have made him notice those trying to sneak around him so she didn't. "It's been documented for centuries. I deal with it almost nightly. Horrors tempt those humans when they're at their lowest, it doesn't matter if they're a man or a woman. And they give in, because they want something better or the power to pay back those who wronged or tormented them."

"Shut up!", he yelled. Nope didn't look like he was aware of Olivia's findings on that particular matter. That was a miscalculation on her part. "My father showed me the right way. How to handle women like you who don't know their place."

Stepping closer to keep his attention she said, "Then do it." Walter and the rest of them seemed shocked at her challenge. The other were close enough to start grabbing the children at any moment. Keep him focused in this direction. "Try and put me in my place, if you think you're man enough."

"I'll beat the truth about your role in your mentor's plan out of you too," he growled. Jules was already set for his charge. It was wild and reckless, like she expected. It almost made him more dangerous, unpredictable, throwing hay maker after hay maker at her so fast she couldn't do anything but dodge his blows at the moment. Luckily he seemed to forget about the Brush in his hands he was so enraged. And she made him chase her a little since the others were starting to get the kids to safety as others joined in with the rescue while he was distracted. Seeing the last child was taken away to safety Jules ran in and slid on the ground around him after that last punch attempt. She got up spinning around and lashing out with a foot that caught him flush in the side of the head. She just happen to catch sight of Shae and it looked like she wanted to jump in. Jules shook her head one before returning her full attention to Walter, while a bit staggered didn't exactly go down from the blow.

Smacking the side of his head a couple of times he said, "Is that all you got bitch? Keep proving my point for me!"

"Just when I was starting to feel sorry for you," she muttered, not caring if Walter heard her or not at that particular moment. Now she went at him throwing every combination that came to mind., from every angle possible. Walter took most of the initial assault, head rocking back several times, before he pushed her away.

"Fight me like a man!", he bellowed. "Not any of that foo foo shit they teach the kids around here, making them soft like women." Then his head rocked back again after a straight right from her. Okay that one felt better than it probably should have all things considered.

"That was like a man," she taunted him. "Looks like you still can't handle it." Then he tackled her to the ground out of the blue. Pinning her there as he raised a punch at her unprotected face. Jules stared at him the entire time, keeping eye contact. Letting him know she wasn't afraid of him in any way shape or form. He was smiling down at her up until he notice the look she was giving him. Enough to make him waver a bit. And enough that that she got her arms up and hit him in the throat. He started to choke a bit as he grasped at his neck. Jules pushed him off and came up swinging again. This time knocking him down with a hay maker of her own. This time he didn't try to get back up. Not even breathing all that hard she looked at Samantha and some of the other who converged on Walter in the next second. His arms held back by Samantha's staff they hauled him to his feet and tore the brush from his hand.

"Jules," Shae said as she finally got closer, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine kiddo," she said as she stood up. "Are the kids all right?" She looked around and saw most of them were still around, they looked shaken but otherwise fine. That was her main concern, now she could breath a little either. "I'm absolutely fine."

"You had to take a cheap shot!", Walter coughed out. "You took a cheap shot because you knew you couldn't beat me in a fair fight." This from the man head was being used as a punching bag a few moments ago. He was never going to learn was he?

"Oh would you shut up you big moron!" Jules blinked a few times as Walter's jaw dropped as they both realized that just came out of Shae. Sweet, shy, quiet Shae. She suddenly look unsure of herself once she realized the attention she was currently receiving.

"Did you all hear what she just said?", Walter demanded as he struggled against them..

"I sure did," Jules said with a stern hint in her voice. Shae cringed back a little, probably expecting to get a talking to. Instead of that Jules looked at her then gave her a small clap of approval. Walter started yelling again as they dragged him away. Yeah he was never going to be taken away quietly. Going up to Shae she told her, "You're finally showing a bit of backbone. But I am telling you right now if I ever find out that you lost it, even just a bit, I will be back to kick your butt from one end of this compound to the other and back again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Jules," she said, but couldn't help from smiling at the same time.

Putting a arm around her shoulders one more time she said, "Well I better get this tongue lashing from Olivia over with. I did a few things just now she's not going to be happy with. New lesson Shae, It's better to admit it when you mess up and face the consequences. Because it'll be worse for you in the long run if you don't. And I'm not joking about kicking your butt. I'll do it if I ever hear you reverted back a bit, I don't care how old you get." Okay that was over with, now she could get back to locating the thief. He had to have put Walter up to that, he just had to.

* * *

While the actual act was slightly surprising, nobody would have guessed Walter would just up and try to take a group of kids, the thief knew it never crossed his mind once, the result went exactly as planned. Just about everybody was focused on that idiot and didn't notice a lone figure slip into the woods. That distraction was enough that a few more items was able to be grabbed and added to the payload for later. While an exact number of items was never agreed upon one or two more couldn't hurt. They looked exotic enough that they should fetch a high price from the buyer. It pretty much became a mantra at this point, it didn't matter what it did, the story made the there were plenty of stories to create in that pile that had been collected over these past few weeks.

"What are you doing out here?"

No, no no. The moment when it was all over and be in the clear was so close, this couldn't be happening now. Calm down, don't give anything away, "Lynda."

She looked impatient as she readjusted the grip on her spear, "Don't make me ask you again. I saw you walk away while everyone was gawking at that idiot and the kids.

Okay, relax, there was a plan in mind even if this happened. "It occurred to me that the thief could use the commotion Walter was causing to get to where he was hiding the things he stole. I didn't think I had time to get you or one of the others. Time was of the essence, and it should be one of us who finds the thief and the items that were stolen."

It was hard not to looked unnerved by the glare she was emitting in this direction. But eventually she lowered her spear slightly and said, "Damn right it should be one us." Good old vault guard pride, so easily to manipulate. "So , did you find anything?"

"Not at the moment, I'm starting to think the thief headed to another part of the woods. I sort of went this way at random because it was closer to the commotion."

"We need a better plan than at random", she said as she walked past, eyes keen for any foreign movement in the woods around them. "Who knows how long the thief has been planning this. He has the advantage of being way more collected in his thinking and not just reacting like we have been." Then she paused as she looked in a certain direction. No there was nothing out of place, you don't see anything. Getting the spear in position she suddenly said without looking this way, "One of the tunnel entrances is over here," she said before dashing off. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Stop her before she ruins everything. It's almost over this shouldn't be happening.

It was too late by the time she finally stopped, she was at the entrance. Play it off, don't give anything away. "Lynda what is it?"

She turned, looking excited. "The tunnels under the training ground. The thief could be using them to hide the things he stole from the vault. He may be be hiding in there himself, this is our chance. We can catch him off guard if we're careful and lucky enough. Watch my back in case he's near the opening."

"Of course." Follow behind her, don't make any sudden movements that she'd notice and think something was wrong. She got to the entrance and went to open it, now. A small gasp of pain escaped her lips as the tip of the spear pierced her back. Pulling it out, only to swing at her again as she slowly turned around. She went down holding the gash in her neck. Stepping on her spear to make sure she couldn't use it and looked at her, a bit of regret forming, "I'm sorry Lynda, I truly liked you, but I can't have you ruining things more than you almost did." One last plunge with the spear into her chest ended her life. No time to morn, There were other voices coming now, they'd see what happened and who done it. No time to hide the body now, just enough to opening this door to the tunnels and slip inside, time to move the items out of here. Earlier than planned but it couldn't be helped.

But one thing nagged at the back of his mind. Her arm was moving before the blow that killed her landed. At the time the thought was she was trying to get her weapon in an attempt to push him back, but what if she wasn't? Too late to worry about it now.


	12. Chapter 11

"I know I didn't handle the situation like you would have wanted," Jules said as she sat across from Olivia. Surprisingly she wasn't as upset as Jules would have expected. She was obviously visibly irritated, that much was obvious. But considering how fast she had Walter escorted out of her office while she waited for them to be finish with their discussion, Jules was expecting to get the brunt of her remaining anger. Which was why Olivia just sitting there, quietly staring out into space, was unnerving her a little, not that Jules wanted to get yelled at but this could not be good for her. So she kept talking, hoping to get some sort of a reaction from her, "But I was concerned about the kids. I was doing everything I could to hold his attention for as long as possible so he wouldn't notice what was going on around him."

She sighed, finally focusing on her. Looking as tired as Jules had seen her today Olivia said, "No, you did the right thing Jules even if it wasn't how I would have handled the situation. Unfortunately this had been a long time coming. I've been hearing grumblings from the others about wanting to knock some sense into him for a while now," she graced her with a sad smile, "Although I doubt many would have held back as you did."

"Well, I'm still sure the thief pushed him that point." Jules said. Olivia just nodded absentmindedly, this was affecting her more than she was letting on. Maybe it was more than that. "Look I realize you irritated with me for bringing up that his mother could have been the Horror..."

"I am irritated," she said suddenly. "But more at myself for keeping quiet about it for this long. Maybe if I confronted him with the idea sooner, gotten him to remember what happened that night, then maybe he finally would have moved forward instead of clinging to what his father taught him. Or maybe not," she said looking defeated for lack of a better word. Jules did not like that particular look on the woman that she looked up to and admired for years.

Shae suddenly ran into the room. "I'm sorry but Emily just came by." Olivia and Jules started to stand, both fearing that this wasn't going to be good. "She said they found a body, it was one of the vault guards. It looks like she'd been killed" Olivia paled a bit and looked like she was going to fall to the floor. Jules immediately reached out to steady her. Olivia staid standing but looked grateful for the assistance.

At the teenager Jules asked, "Where is she now Shae?"

"She went to get the other vault guards," was the answer. It made sense, they were sure the thief was one of them any way. So confront them with this and see how they react. "She said both of you should come too, she told me where it is."

Jules wasn't sure how she felt about that, she didn't want Shae anywhere near this mess but it was too late now. Leaning on her cane Olivia told the teenager, "Lead the way."

After they got outside, even if Emily didn't tell Shae where the body was it would have been easy to take a guess, Everyone was talking, a few gesturing in the direction they were heading. It was safe to assume not many sudden deaths happened around here. Jules personally hated this spot that was so dear to her was sullied in such a manner. The spot was soon evident as the familiar, to Jules at least, sight of people hovering around pretty much pinpointed where the body was. "Out of the way," Jules said as she made sure they gave away to Olivia. The two of them approached the body, Jules looked back and saw Shae was still following. "Stay back," she ordered the girl who fortunately complied with it.

"Oh no," Olivia muttered as they got closer, "Lynda." Jules increased her pace to get to the body first. "Who found her?", she asked the group.

Two stepped forward, "We did" one of the answered. "We thought we saw somebody sneaking around and with all the talk about things being stolen from some vault we checked it out. And we found her lying here. We lost track of the person we thought we saw though, Sorry Olivia."

"How long ago was it?", Jules asked as she examined the body. Granted this wasn't her area of expertise, the closest she could claim being an expert on dead bodies were the people who where possessed by Horrors she and Carter had to track down, and that was stretching things. But she had to do something and looking for any sort of clue was better than nothing at this moment.

The two conversed for a moment before the first one said, "About ten minutes or so by the time you got here. Maybe a little more, I'm not exactly sure."

Jules took Lynda's hand, Now it might have been her imagination bur it still felt warm to her. "This just happened based on that that time frame," she looked up and said to Olivia. Then she tried to look at the wounds themselves, they looked like they could have been done with a spear, but it could have been some sort of dagger just as easily. Jules looked out into the woods, the thief had to be close. There was no way he could have gotten that far.

"No," a new voice said. Jules and Olivia looked over to see Emily and the other vault guards join the group. So far all of the just looked horrified, genuinely horrified, at what they were seeing. Jules went back to Lynda's body and then noticed some sort of marking in the earth under her hand, it looked like she was clawing at the dirt.

Turning her head a bit to get a better look, she soon realized she wasn't clawing at the ground, she was trying to tell them something. Without looking up she asked, "Who's missing?"

"Jasmine and Trevor are still at their post," Emily said. Those were the two she hadn't had a chance to speak to yet and still at their post. Jules wanted to demand why they weren't here, but it was a forbidden vault that they were guarding. Vincent used to tell her that it would take something major to get a vault guard to abandon their post. The death of one of their own obviously didn't count as anything major.

"Are you sure about that?", Jules asked, which made the guard leader looked confused. She waved Emily over and showed her what she just discovered. She gasp a little when she saw it, as did Olivia. In whatever time she had left Lynda scratched a letter into the ground. The letter J. Jules tried to recall all the guards names from earlier and Jasmine was a new one to her.

Emily immediately whipped around to her men, looked them over and demanded, "Where's Jonathon?" They all looked at each other but nobody was coming forth with an answer. "Where is he?", she said a little more authority.

"I haven't seen him since we were told to talk with her," Hector said as he pointed at Jules. That was a couple of hours ago. Jules reached out and closed Lynda's eyes as she lowered her head. "No, you don't mean," Hector started to say as it dawned on the rest of them what they were implying. "You got to be wrong."

"The sooner we find him the sooner we find out," Jules said as she finally stood up. If this wasn't some sort of misdirection and Jonathon was the thief then things escalated faster than any of them expected. Obviously he was capable to doing this to someone he knew then anybody was a target right now. Catching Olivia's eye she glanced over at Shae. She looked back at the girl and then back to Lynda's prone form before nodding her head slightly. Jules gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder before heading over to Shae

"Jules," she said as she got close enough. This was affecting her all right, it was affecting all of them. And Jules heart went out to all of them.

Reaching into her coat she retrieved Shae's brush and handed it back to her. "I need to know you can defend yourself in you need to. You're going to need this." Shae looked stunned at this but took her brush back before hooking it to her belt "This isn't how I wanted it done Shae."

"Alyssa no!", Olivia cried out suddenly. Before Jules could turn around and see what was happening there was a huge explosion. Everybody ducked or dove for the ground in response. Jules' first reaction was to grab Shae and get between her and the explosion.

Small bits of debris still falling from the sky Jules located Olivia and cried out, "What happened?" Part of her was afraid she already knew. A couple of the others were running toward a spot, she thought she saw another body briefly in the smoke and haze.

"Alyssa,", Olivia got out as Emily helped her to her feet. "She pointed out one of the tunnel entrances was near by. She opened it before I could stop her. Marcus is she?" Olivia didn't finish. She didn't have to, everybody knew the answer from ther look on his face. Two dead now. At that moment Jules wanted to beat the living hell out of the man. Emily looked like she wanted to do far worse to him, and Jules wasn't sure if she'd stop her if she did. "Everybody back away," Olivia ordered. With a little coaxing from Jules and Emily they did just that.

"What's going to happen now?", Shae asked. She was holding it together better than Jules would have at her age, she had to give her that.

Still she wasn't exactly sure what to tell her, outside of, "Now we start figuring out how to go on the offensive and catch the bastard."

* * *

This day couldn't get any crazier, it just couldn't. Could it? Shae sat in a chair, trying to stay out of the way as everyone came in and out of the door to the building and Olivia's office. She was hoping that once everybody realized she wasn't the one who stole those things from the vault not only would she get her brush back, but maybe she wouldn't have to stay by Jules' side any more. While she was true to her word about handing back her brush she insisted that Shae stay with her for a little longer. After witnessing that explosion Shae wasn't exactly iin the mood to argue the point. Seeing how everyone outside, when the door was open long enough to get a look, was running around, and Olivia gave the order for all students to stay in their rooms until this was over, it was probably better for her to be right here.

Jules came out of Olivia's office and smiled at her. Then her attention went to the front door as Emily came in again. "What's the situation?", Jules asked, Some how she become Olivia's right hand in this. Shae thought the guard might have taken offence to this, she would have if she was in her place. But on the outside at least Emily seemed fine with how the hierarchy ended up playing out.

Emily told her, "We already have all the tunnel exits covered, two people each like Olivia asked. I also have a couple of guards at all the known tunnel entrances in the woods surrounding the training ground in case he tries to get past us that way."

Jules nodded, "Good idea, my only worry is that he knows how you guys think."

"It's mine too," Emily told her. "Me and a few of the other vault guards are trying to figure out how we would get around what we do."

"Um," Shae spoke up getting their attention, "What about the entrance that blew up? Couldn't he try and get out that way?"

"Hector and Marcus are guarding that one," Emily told her. Of course they would think of that possibility. Why would they need her opinion on anything dealing with this? Emily continued, "They practically volunteered. I asked a couple of border guard to keep an eye on them for the time being, Just in case they decided to go in looking for a little revenge for Lynda. Marcus shouldn't be a problem but Hector had a bit of a thing for her, she didn't reciprocate but he was still a bit smitten with her."

"Yeah, we don't need any hot heads in this situation, Jules said. "Let Olivia know what you just told me." Emily glanced her way before nodding and heading into the office. Smiling at her again Jules sat next to her, "How are you holding up Shae?"

"I don't know," was the only answer she could give her. Jules started rubbing her shoulder lightly. "Why did he kill her? Both of them?"

Jules didn't say anything right away, she just kept rubbing her shoulders. Then she sighed and said, "I honestly don't know. As cold as this might sound I don't think he planned on killing Alyssa. He booby trapped the door and she was just the unlucky one to open it. Lyndam I can't even phantom a guess. Outside of she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. At this point we have to assume he's capable of anything. But good suggestion though, about the destroyed door. It shows you can think a little straight in a mess like this."

"How is that a good thing?", Shae asked.

"Because of who we are Shae," Jules said. "Not every Priest hunts Horrors but we still have to face some dangerous situation and chaos. Things like trying to bring in a Makai Priest who went rogue or breaking up those black market rings you asked about." She started rubbing her hands together as she let out a tired sounding sigh, "Those are things you're supposed to learn after you leave a place like this, not while you're still here. This were you're supposed to learn the finer points of what we do after your parents teach you the basics. The lot of you got a hard lesson in reality today that's going to change you in one way or another. " Then Jules surprised her by saying, "I'm sorry I let it happen to you. I had no control but I should have found out who was behind the thefts before this happened."

"I held you back," Shae said figuring that was were she was going.

"Now don't you start believing that for a second," Jules told her sternly. "Even if you weren't by my side I'd still be in the same position of not knowing and not figuring out who was behind it all fast enough. Jonathon had a head start nobody could have caught up with. But I still tried because Olivia asked me to help out. I put this whole situation on my shoulders because I didn't want to disappoint her." Leaning forward she sighed again "Right now we got a waiting game going on."

"Do you think he put traps on the other entrances?" Shae asked her. "I mean if he set on the could have done with other." She noticed the way Jules was looking at her, "And you already thought of that."

With a small grin she said, "It's why nobody 's actually charged down there yet to try and rush him. The only one we know isn't trapped is the one that already went off."

"And he could have set another further down that particular tunnel," Shae said.

"See you changed already," Jules said in an attempted light hearted way. But Shae could tell she wasn't exactly feeling it, not like it was when she first met her. "I'd bet you're worried about Nadia," she said suddenly. "I already told Olivia I'd take you to see her just to get you out of here for a bit."

She did want to see if Nadia was okay. The person who ended up being her one true friend here of course she was worried about her. "But they need you here,"she started to say.

"Right now they're waiting for the archivist findings about any other tunnels Jonathon could use to get out. Besides," Jules reached into a coat pocket and pulled out some sort of disk that Shae didn't recognize. Waving her brush over it made some sort of magical indicators appear above It, "it looks like my hunch was wrong, he didn't go back for more." She caught her staring at the readings, "I'll show you how this works later if you want, I'm sure your parents have used something similar." Shae pointed at one of the blue dots , it was moving. Jules looked down and her eyes went a little wider. "Shae we're going to have to postpone seeing Nadia for a bit." Then she went back into the office before Shae could say anything.

"Not a problem," she said to nobody. But what hunch did she have? What were those dots supposed to be?

* * *

Jonathon tried to keep calm and keep going. His surprise went off so the knew for sure somebody had tried to get in here and follow him. But none of the others he'd set were triggered yet so that spooked them from the looks of things. He couldn't count on the staying spooked though. Kicking himself slightly Jonathon knew he should have been out of here by now, but he had to make sure nobody else was coming in after the explosion. Even taking the time to set that last seal further down that particular pathway felt like it took longer than usual. His only guarantee right now was that nobody knew which exit he was going to use. Chances were they put a watch on each one, so ideally he should only have to take care of one maybe two people before they could notify anyone else. He just had to be fast enough and catch them off guard. If he acted fast enough that is.

Maybe if he knew what some of the things in this last box he grabbed while they were concentrating on the idiot could help. No, not knowing what they could do meant he might damage some of them. And that would affect the price. No he would just have to move faster than they did and catch them off guard. He approached the door he originally planned to use that lead to the outside world, and here he paused. Carefully opening the door, grateful that it didn't make a creaking noise, he glanced around as best as he could. His eyes narrowed a bit as he didn't spot any one in sight. In any other case that would be a good thing. But seeing how fast the situation went south this could be extremely bad. Jonathon opened the door a little more so far there was nothing. Wait, did that shadow just move?

The end of a staff shot through the opening making him back up enough that the person on the other side ripped the door open wider. Damn it, Jonathon put the box down and grabbed the hand reaching for him and pulled. Ramming his head into the border guards face let him run past him and into the open. A risky move but he could get backed into a corner down there. Once out in the open he thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eyr and ducked. Another staff just missed his head as he rolled forward. Getting his spear into position he easily blocked the return swing.

"Jonathon!", he searched for who yelled his name out of some basic instinct. No, no no. Emily and that woman were running in this direction. How did they get her so fast? A quick glance back into the tunnel showed the one he headbutted was still stunned so there was no way he could have sent for them. Neither of these border guards could have called them considering how far away this particular open was from the training ground. Worry about it later. Emily pulled short but held the end of her spear at him, that woman just behind her. "Give up Jonathon, there's no way out of this," Emily told him.

"There's supposed to be no way into the vault either," he taunted her. "But I did that." Pushing the guard back he quickly grabbed his brush and held the bristles close to the tip if the spear and made it glow. Then he swung it in a wide arc making a wide energy wave fly toward the two of them. Both Emily and the woman jumped over the wave. The woman already had her brush out as she kicked off Emily in the air changing her direction and fired magic blasts at him. He was distracted enough that Emily was able to land by him unmolested and went on the attack almost immediately.

The other guard tried to get involved as well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that damnable woman land and run in to join. He had to get out of here. Jonathon started to swing wildly, at least that was how it was supposed to look. Emily would realize what he was doing soon enough since this was something that vault guards had come up with. With that woman and the guard backing up Jonathon pushed his brush in the guards face and fire a blast of energy point blank. He went down in a heap, what was left of his face smoking.

"No!," the woman said a little too late as he was already swinging the staff back around, fully planning on having the metal of the blade slice through her neck. But Emily was already there trying to protect her. She body arched as the tip of his spear went through her back. "Emily!" the woman shouted as she caught her as she fell. Jonathon knew he wasn't going to get a better chance and ran for the opening, pausing just long enough to shove the first guard out right before he slammed it shut. He didn't have time to even pick that crate back up he just ran the tunnels as fast as he could. There had to be a way out they haven't thought to cover this network wasn't exactly huge, bit it was big enough that something had to be forgotten. He just had to find it before they decided to rush the tunnels and trap him like a rat. He was too close to being wealthy to let that happen without a fight. He went several meters, taking any turn that looked good at that particular moment. He came to a dead end.

"Damn," he muttered. Jonathon wasn't sure how he got here, he was pretty much lost at this point. And who knew when they would come along that last corner and finally corner him, In complete frustration he jabbed at the wall in front of him with the spear in his hand. He looked confused as it went through easily enough, well past the head of the spear. He pulled it free and more of the wall came away. "What the hell?". Confusion quickly gave away to hope as he started pushing and pulling at the wall in front of him, occasionally looking back just feeling them on him. Once the hole was big enough he crawled through, it was another tunnel from the looks of it. One not in the archives. Quickly spinning back to ward the opening he made he leaned his spear against the wall and placed a slip of paper in the opening. Running his brush over it he backed away as the illusion it cast made the wall look solid again. That should by him some time.

He looked down at the ground on this side, well at least until they notice the rubble on the ground. He was sure he left something in his haste to get away and they could notice if they were observant enough. Jonathon wasn't going to stay around and find out. Grabbing the spear he turned again and walked this way. It had to lead somewhere, maybe even to the outside and freedom.


	13. Chapter 12

You had to give Olivia credit for one thing, she was very good at making sure other people felt safer than they usually would. Right now she was sitting next to Shae as she sat there dumbfounded at hearing what was going on. When today started her biggest worry was proving her innocence and wondering if those voies from the other side of the door would carry out their threat or not. Now she found out a forbidden vault was practically under their feet, one of the guards had stolen from it, and at least three people were dead. And one who could be if the healers couldn't do anything to save her. Shae never thought that she'd ever prefer that she rather try and prove her own innocense than anything else. But right now that was exactly what she was thinking. Turning to the older woman Shae went, "Do you think...?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Olivia was saying of the guard. Right now Shae wasn't sure which one of them she was trying to convince. Still she nodded in agreement. That guard just had to be okay. Both of them looked up as the door opened. Jules walked in and didn't really look at her, but Olivia's had her complete and undivided attention. Standing to face her Olivia was quiet for a bit before going, "Emily?"

"The healers thinks that she'll make it," Olivia relaxed so much that Shae thought she was going to drop back into that chair. Then Jules continued, "But it's going to be close. That blow got one of her lungs but missed her heart and didn't sever her spinal cord. But her lung have them worried. If she makes it through the night they think she should make it. I've been carrying some reverter with me since I became engaged to Carter, they were able to use that with a Madou flame, they think we did it in time, but like I said they'll know for sure in the morning."

"She's strong, she'll pull through," Olivia said while nodding to herself. Then she walked over and put a hand on Jules' shoulder, "Thank you for trying if nothing else. What about Jonathon? Has there been any word on him?"

Jules shook her head, "As far as we know he's still stuck in the tunnels. I had the guards put barriers on most of the doors to limit his options."

"But he can get past seals and barriers," Olivia cut in.

"From outside the seal," Jules said. " But he's on the other side now, and the barrier's on the outside part of the door. With any luck he shouldn't get through the door to get to it with out revealing himself first. The doors still have guards on them but I increased the presence by the two we left open as well." Jules looked at her and explained a little more, "The one that blew and the one that we encountered him at. Just two ways in and two ways out."

"I don't like this," Olivia told her. "It's too much of a risk considering what he can do."

"It's the best we have for the moment," Jules said. Pulling that disk out again she activated the markings again and studied them for a few moments. Shae did as well, still not exactly sure what she was seeing but was aware that Jules knew what she was looking at. "One bit of luck is going our way, none of the objects I tagged have been moved, not even the one he left behind."

"And Emily's life was your biggest concern at the time," Olivia said as Jules placed the disk back into her pocket. "Most guardians might say otherwise but you made the right call there."

"I'm going back to the archivists," Jules announced. "See if they discovered anything about the tunnels that we can use to our advantage. Still holding up Shae?", she asked her.

"Yes," and that sounded a little shaky, and it was her voice. Jules reached out and squeezed her shoulder. Shae reached up and grabbed her hand. She tried to sound a little less shaky by going, "I mean, yes."

"Don't worry this'll be over before you know it," She told her. With one last squeeze on her shoulder Jules gave her a smile before leaving the building.

"Do you really think it'll be over as soon as she think?", she asked Olivia after they were alone.

"Shae,' she said, "I've known that particular woman since she was about this high," she held he here hand, palm pointed at the floor, below her waste to indicate her point. "And I've seen her do things others people thought she couldn't. Let's just say I wasn't too surprised when I heard she started hunting Horrors. If she thinks she can catch Jonathon before the day is over I wouldn't bet against her."

"She didn't learn to hunt them here?" Okay she said her mentor was the first one to see her strength in combat, but there were courses here for the slightly older, more advanced groups that dealt with tracking down Horrors. It only made sense that her current position would have started here, at least as Shae thought so anyway.

"Not originally," Olivia told her. "I've seen a few Priest in my time show a prowess in the combat arts at various stages of their life. Very few have been able to translate that into actively hunting Horrors. Remember Shae for the longest time Makai Priests just supported the Knights. We used to do it in the past but stopped when the Horrors became too strong, but things have a tendency to go in circles as they say, it's a fairly recent development but it does look like that Makai Priests are slowly joining the hunt again. To be honest with you I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that." Olivia guided her to her office, "But that's a thought for another time. But we can occupy our time in better ways."

"In what ways?", Shae asked. Maybe it was Jules' influence or being around her had awaken something that had laid dormant for a long time, but Shae surprised herself by saying, "But I want to help catch him."

"I'm sure you do," in any other adult that might have sounded a bit condescending, but Olivia said it like she truly understood her need. Maybe in this case she actually did. "But the safety of the students here must be my primary concern. Come, maybe I can help you with that scroll about string magic, we need something to occupy our time in the meantime." She was looking at her when she opened the door. So she didn't see the new opening in her wall until she looked toward the bookcase in the room.

That opening was door sized, and it looked like some sort of tunnel on the other side. By the time both of them tore their eyes off it and toward each other it was too late. Shae say something move and wrap an arm around Olivia's neck before her mind could understand what was happening. When the blade of a spear went to her throat Shae found her voice and instinctively went for her brush, "Let her go."

"Watch it kid," The thief told her as he put the spear closer to her throat, pressing into it, "there's been enough death today." Shae froze at those words. "That's a good girl. Now I'm taking Olivia with me through that opening right over there. Don't do anything stupid. Drop the cane, drop it!" Olivia did so but Shae saw her drop something from her other hand as well. "Good. I'll let you go once I'm out of here. Now move. Olivia didn't resist as the thief made them go through that opening.

Shae grabbed Olivia's cane and quickly shoved it in the opening before it could close fully. Waiting a bit she knelt down and grabbed the other things Olivia dropped. It was a piece of wood with some sort of wooden spinner at one end. Shae knew exactly what this was since her parents had used something similar in the past. More importantly she knew how to use it. Thinking about Jules she said, "Come back to Olivia's office," and blew on it to make the piece spin. A softly glowing green orb appeared and flew out of the room. Jules should be here soon enough. She looked back at the ajar opening, but would it be soon enough? "I am out of my mind," she muttered as she went to that opening and was able to get it to open again. "Yeah, I'm out of my mind," and she walked through. The door started to close again but she made sure the cane blocked it, and making sure Jules would know where she went. Taking a few deep breath, her nerves still felt the same though, she turned and tried to locate the thief and Olivia.

* * *

While she wasn't much of a visitor of the archives when she was studying here, Jules did accompany Vincent on a couple of occasions before both of them and Reks left here for the larger world outside the woods, Despite everything currently going on Jules looked around a smiled to herself thinking of those times. When Reks was younger he'd act like you were throwing him to the lions if you even hinted that this was your destination. When he grew older he'd help out more with less theatrics, particularly if it was something he was interested in, but Jules was usually the one Vincent went to for assistance when he did his research. And right now she had never seen the place so cluttered, with scrolls and papers all over the place. She had a vague memory of the person in charge at the time being a stickler for things being neat and tidy. The state of this particular room would have given her fits.

Pleasant thoughts for later, Jules reminded herself as she made her way to the main desk. The current keeper of this archive looked frazzled as various other people rushed from one room to another behind her. Occasionally dropping something off by the poor woman at the desk before going back for more. "I'm telling you I've had better days," she told Jules without any prompting from her. She probably needed to say that to some body, Jules just happen to be the lucky person.

"I'm sure," Jules said as she stopped at the desk. Realizing she knew what was going on, which would explain the organized chaos going in the building, Jules cut to the chase. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Maybe," she said as she started going through all the scrolls and books by her, eventually pushing a stack aside and put a n old scroll that was hidden behind it in front of her. She unrolled it and showed the contents to Jules. "I found this in my office, after Olivia mentioned something about a underground cavern beneath the training grounds. Something about it sounded familiar for some reason. Then I remembered why. One of the original archivist had a record of it inside a private safe in what's now my office."

"I know you're trying," Jules said, trying to keep calm. The guys who robbed the forbidden vault and ended up killing three people was still on the loose. It wouldn't be fair to this woman to unload all the frustration that had been building up in her on this woman, she was just doing her job after all. Still this find was confusing and not helping the frustration levels at the moment. "But how does that help us exactly?"

"Admittedly, the notes about the cavern, not much," she said as she shuffled through more papers before Showing Jules another one, and it looked just as old as the scroll about that cavern "Now this, everybody forgot about." Jules stared at what she was seeing now.

"A map of the tunnels?", she asked. Granted this would be extremely helpful in trying to corner Jonathon. But that was going to depend on how well the guards here knew them. Because Jonathon more than likely knew them fairly well.

"One of the original maps," she clarified. Retrieve another newer looking map she said, "This is a current map of the system." She laid them side by side and let Jules study both of them. It took a moment but Jules saw what she wanted her to see. As Jules pointed at it as the woman nodded in approval. "As you can see we lost some tunnels over the years."

"How is that even possible?" Jules asked as she traced the out line of some of these older tunnels. If some of these were still open then they could catch the thief by surprise. This could be the best luck they had all day.

"That goes back to that report I found about that cavern," she said. "One of the former head of the training ground had then sealed off, since these lead to it directly to that's under that vault that was supposed to be these." Jules glanced up at her and said nothing. She did not envy Olivia one bit with the amount of damage control she was going to have to do when this was over. "He was afraid somebody could use that and get into there."

"So he sealed this way off and completely ignored the one we found earlier," Jules said with a little disbelief.

"I'm assuming he thought this was the greater threat. But what's done is done, he's long gone and can't defend himself now."

"Right," Jules said, she was going to have to get it together. Maybe not wish Carter was her to help her clear her mind with a quick sparing sessions, not that they had the time at the moment, she was on her own now and had to do that on her own like before her and Carter became partners, "you're right. Back to the matter at hand . Are any of the entrances to these older tunnels still open?" The archivist started to say something but then looked past her. Jules turned her head and saw a glowing orb by her head. "Now what?"

Reaching out to touch the orb she was a bit surprised to hear Shae's voice come out of it. "Come back to Olivia's office," was the message. Seriously, now what?

Jules started to leave when the archivist grabbed her arm. Jules looked at her hand then up to her wondering what was going on. She looked worried which was making Jules even more so."One of those entrances is in Olivia's office," she said.

If Jonathon some how got into those forgotten tunnels. Jules freed herself and ran out of there and straight toward Olivia's office. She spotted Marcus coming out of the healer's building and grabbed him, saying, "Come with me," and kept running. He didn't waste time asking why he just followed her. Bursting through the door she tried not to worry when she didn't see Shae or Olivia in sight. Once Marcus caught up she held a finger to her lips then motioned for him to follow her. Quietly they made their way to the door to Olivia's office. Steeling herself for anything that might be on the other side and slowly opened the door enough to get a look inside before opening it all the way. She walked in seeing nothing but a empty room. Then she spotted Olivia's cane sticking out of the opening of the wall. "Damn it," she muttered, he was in the old tunnels.

Marcus came over and stared at the sight of the cane in the wall before going, "What happened?"

"Later," Jules told him. "Go back to the archive and ask if we can barrow that map she showed me. Then get as many people as you can get. Pull them off the other openings if you have too. But get as many as you can and bring them back here. Jonathon might have Olivia." Marcus eyes widened and rushed out of these. Jules went back to that opening and nudged the cane slightly. That was all it took for the door to open back up. She poked her head inside and looked around, quickly spotting the mechanism that controlled it. Flipping a old switch she waited, satisfied that it wasn't going to close anytime soon, otherwise they were going to have to blow a hole in this wall to get to the tunnels because she didn't have the time to search for the corresponding levers in the office. And while Olivia would, hopefully, understand why they did she didn't want to be on the receiving end of that look she'd give them.

She looked back in the office before looking at the tunnels and stared into the darkness. "Shae if you did what I think you did you better be glad you're not my kid. Because I would so..." Jules walked back iinto the office and waited. Getting more and more sure by the second Shae did exactly what she feared she did.

* * *

"It was supposed to be easy," Jonathon said as he kept his grip on Olivia. And the plan was supposed to make things easy, but then that woman got involved and things stopped going according to the plan and right now he was improvising as he went. He almost panic when he realized what that initial path he took lead to this woman's office of all places. Then he heard her and that woman's voices come from the other room and knew he had to think fast. So he go in position by the door and waited, luckily Olivia was paying more attention to the brat and was close enough to grab and use as his current hostage. Equaly as fortunate that woman had left right before then or it could have been much worse. "Just grab a few things and get rich. My seller already had several buyers lined up. Nobody was supposed to get hurt."

"Those items were locked up for a reason," Olivia said, barely daring to move her head with his spear still at her throat. "People tended to get hurt, or killed, with their use. You knew this Jonathon," he almost laughed at the disapproval in her voice. "Why would you put innocent people in danger just for a profit?"

"Why should I care about some idiots looking for something unique and exotic that have too much money to throw around. If they died who'd care?"

"Somebody would have cared," she said with more defiance than a person in her place should. "And they wouldn't have been the only ones who would have died is those items get activated. More innocents than you think would be killed not to mention any Makai Priest or Knight sent to investigate or deal with the situation. They wouldn't have any idea how to handle some the of items you took."

"I'd be long gone by then," he snapped at her. "It wouldn't be any concern of mine or my seller at that point."

"Where would you go?", she asked suddenly.

He put the spear closer to her throat. Pressing it against the skin, "Shut up."

She didn't take the warning, "Where would you go? Even if you killed me the others still know you're the one responsible for this. The Senate would make sure everyone in the Order would be looking for you. There's no where you could go that you wouldn't constantly be looking over your shoulder for a Makai Priest or Knight, wondering if they recognized you. And that's if you're partner in this folly didn't turn on you first after they were tracked down for selling them to begin with."

"I know what you're doing," he growled at her. She was trying to rattle him, make him doubt himself. But it wasn't going to work. There were places he could go that they would never think to look. And they would be looking for a rouge Makai Priest. And he had no intention of looking like one after this was over. A couple of quick purchases after the first couple of sales and he would look like any other regular human on the street. "And my seller the gran dkid of a former guardian for this vault. She wouldn't put her family name at risk to sell me out. Which is exactly what would happen if she did." Two can play at this game. He told her the truth, the granddaughter of a former vault guardian did come up to him about the vault. And together they came up with the plan to steal from it. In fact she made sure there were certain things he didn't touch. But everything else was fair game in the end. So yes, he'd let Olivia live, let her tell them about his partner. It would divide any pursuet's attention long enough for him to get away while they tried to figure out who she was. At the lest divide the potential search part to give himself some better odds at getting away. Besides he didn't know what her plans were after things were sold and she didn't know his. Neither could point out what happened to the other, it was a detail that was easily agreed to after he insisted on it.

That admission stunned Olivia enough that it quieted her for the moment, probably trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not. Jonathon was almost grateful for it as he lit another old torch on the wall to light the way. When this one caught fire he heard something scamper to his right. Keeping his hold on Olivia he pointed his Madou Brush in that direction and fired off a blast. There was a quick cry of surprised. He was being followed. Keeping his brush pointed in that direction he called out to his stalker, "Come out! Come out or the old woman dies right now!"

Making sure Olivia stayed between him and whomever this was Jonathon kept his brush at the ready. He almost let Olivia go who it ended up being surprised him so. He almost started laughing as Olivia spoke the kid's name, "Shae."

Still trying not to laugh, mainly because he didn't know how the kid would react he said, "You're either braver or dumber than anyone ever gave you credit for. Particularly that idiot Walter." To Olivia he commented, just because he wanted to and was the one in power at the moment, "It was pretty easy to get him riled up enough to get those kids. Not that I thought he'd go that far I mean. But really, just between the three of us, why are you so soft on him? I seen you tear into others for things no where near as bad as anything he'd ever done."

Jonathon felt her stiffen ast his words. It almost seemed like she was straining a bit as she said, "I have my reasons."

"Didn't really care that much any way," he said. He had to be careful not to enjoy himself too much. That lead to over confidence and that'll lead to him making a mistake and getting caught. And he didn't get as far as he did by getting over confident. "Grab that torch and get in front of me," he told the kid. "But don't do anything funny or Olivia pays the price."

She did what she was told. Jonathon saw her hand go near the brush hanging from her belt, He pressed the spear into Olivia's neck a little more to get her to make a noise and remind the brat who was in charge here. The message was received as that same hand went away from her brush and grabbed the torch, taking it from the wall. "Now lead the way. Remember, nothing funny."

She stared at him, trying to look intimidating. He did react here as he raised an eyebrow in amusement, it was almost adorable. Olivia was the one to telll her, "It's all right Shae, just do as he says and everything will be okay." The kid still stared daggers at him but she eventually started walking further down the path.

"Jules will find you," the kid said in a defiant way.

"I'm guessing that meant you left the door open for her when she returns to the office," Jonathon said as he smirked behind her back. "Well let her track me down, thanks to you I have two hostages now." The kid wisely said nothing as they walked the path, good let her stew in her own juices for a while. She'll smarten up sooner that way. They followed the path until they came to a fork. One way looked like it went up, the other looked like it went down. He asked Olivia, "Which way?"

"I never knew these section of tunnels existed," she told him. "So I have no idea."

Jonathon looked at the back of her head. Slowly he said, "You know what, I believe you. You made sure the guards knew those passages in their sleep in case of an emergency. You wouldn't have kept us in the dark about these." He studied both ways trying to decide which way to go. They go down the wrong one and he gives that woman time to to shorten the distance between them if they had to double back. So which one was the right one? Then he remembered Olivia telling Emily how she discovered the tunnel he used to get those items out of the chamber. "Stand in front of this one," he told the kid.

Reluctantly she did so. He made her stand there studying the torch in her hand. Most importantly the flame it was emitting. After several moments he told her, "Now stand in front of the other one." She did so and his eyes never left the flame. It started to flicker in the direction they came from, there was wind. Where there was wind there was more than likely an opening. "That way," he told them and made sure the kid went in that direction. Okay here was the new plan. Tie up the kid and the old woman if that opening was where he hoped it was close to, grab the stuff in go. If anybody got in his way then maybe he'd use that item he took off that breast plate looking thing he nabbed from the vault. It had to do something and he could afford to lose one piece to damage in the long run. Hell a few extra nicks could add to the story and the price.


	14. Chapter 13

It didn't take long for Marcus to return with that party she requested. He came back to Olivia's office with the other vault guards not on duty and a few of the border guards and Makai Priests who's primary job was to just teach. Jules took it as a testament to the job Olivia had done as the leader of this training ground. Then a few Knights from that side of the training ground arrived as well. The only thing that irritated her was the answer he got about the map from the archivist. "She said give her a few more moments."

"We don't have a few more moments," she muttered to herself. Well she wasn't going to let this group just stand around, most of them were just chomping at the bit to do something. "Marcus, Hector grab a couple of the others and see if you can determine where they went. We need to narrow down the possibilities as soon as possible." Nobody argued as two of the other, one of the Priest and a Knight stepped forward and joined the two of them and ventured into the tunnel. After a few minutes the archivist entered the room. "What was so important that we had to wait?", Jules asked, trying and not succeeding in keeping the frustration out of her voice. "Jonathon has Olivia and I'm pretty sure Shae followed them in."

"My staff and myself was busy making these," she said. Not even looking insulted by her tone, which technically made Jules feel worse about how she'd spoken to her, handed out several pages of paper to Jules and the others. She looked at them with impressed eyes, they were maps of the tunnel systems with the recently rediscovered ones added. But not enough for the whole group, which was completely understandable given the time frame. It was amazing that had gotten as many as they did. "I had them start working on these the moment we found the paperwork detailing these lost passages. Naturally I had us rush them once I heard Olivia was taken."

"Amazing," Jules said softly. "I'm.."

"Just get Olivia back and we'll call it even," she told her.

"Right," She studied the map, more importantly where the exits were again. They had to cut him off as soon as possible. Pointing at a couple of people, making sure at least a couple of them had a copy she waved them forward and put her map on the table for all to see. "You guys grab some more people, how many Knights are involved in this?"

One of them stepped forward saying, "We have more waiting outside."

Jules nodded, "Good." She waved that Knight forward as well. Trying not to think at how annoyed Reks would be right now that the Knights got involved, but maybe slightly impressed they were taking orders from her, she made sure he got a good look at the map as well. "We have a map and he doesn't. For the first time since this started we have an advantage. I want you five and some of those Knights to find these points right here," she pointed at the exits for these tunnels, "And go inside, I think we don't have to worry that they'll be bobby trapped like the others. We're going to try and trap him between your group and the one in here. Just remember Olivia is his prisoner right now. Do not engage him unless you see the other group or you have no other choice. He's going to feel like a trapped animal so that's going to make him more dangerous especially if he figured out how to use any of the things he stole. And if any of you see one of the students down there have somebody grab her and drag her ass back here immediately. Is all that clear?"

They all answered in the affirmative. And as roughly half the group left as Marcus and Hector came back. Marcus went up to her reporting, "We found a branching path a bit further down. We didn't go down either one but one did look like part of it had some sort of light further down."

"Show me," Jules said dragging him toward the new map. After pointing out where there were on the map Marcus' finger went to the branch,

"It looked like it was more down here," he looked at Hector who nodded in used a finger to follow that particular path. Marcus looked at her as she studied it, "Can he get out that way?"

"He better not," Hector mumbled. "The bastard has to pay for what he's done/" More than a few people nodded in agreement with him. If she was being honest she wanted him to pay as well. But there was something more important at stake then some revenge.

"Not if that group I just sent out out is fast enough," she told him as she kept her eyes on the map. "But we might have caught a break. This path leads to that cavern that's under the training ground. There is a way to the outside from there but," she looked to see if the archivist was still there, and she was, "Did the original map say where it was?"

"Yes it did," she answered. "But there was some writing saying that it wasn't in plain site. If nothing happened between the time that map was made and now, he'd have to search for it."

"I'm not counting on us being that lucky," Jules said. "Try and figure out where that is and tell some guards to hold that spot until further notice." Saying she'd get right on it she left as the group of Knights and Priest parted for her. "Come on, let's find this bastard and get Olivia back," she told the group. Hopefully that group that just left will have more of a straight shot than Jonathon would have to get to any of those exits.

The rest followed her as she entered the the tunnel. She could feel that some of them wanted to move faster than what they were. Again if she was being honest so did she. But if there was any chance he was still in the tunnels she didn't want to give him any sort of advanced warning. They kept going following the path he lit up, more than a few keeping an eye out for any sign of trap that was laid down. Granted that would have been difficult while keeping a hold on Olivia but considering he'd done it more than once it was better to be safe than sorry,

Jules even made them hold up every time they approached a turn or a corner so she could peak around it. He didn't know these tunnel as well as the other ones so there was every chance he could have hit a dead end and turned back. Jules had to think like she was on a Horror hunt, trying to consider any possibility that might change things, usually not in her or Carter's favor. Then they reached a fork in the path. One looked like it headed up and the other down, and neither one was lighted. Remembering Shae was down here as well she tried not to think the worst, She looked down at the ground, it was solid rock and no set of prints in sight. "I don't suppose any of you knows how to illuminate footprints?", she asked not expecting an answer.

The one she got made her look at Hector as he said, "A torch is missing." He pointed at a empty holder on the wall as the group stared at him. "He might have taken it."

"That's a pretty safe bet," Jules said. Looking at the group she asked, "Did any one think to bring a map?" She was kicking herself wondering exactly when she dropped the one she had, That decision was adding time they didn't exactly have.

"I have one," a Priest handed over the one in her hand.

"Thank you," Jules said as she tried to get a better look at it, Marcus turned the tip of his spear into a torch, like Emily had done earlier in the day. "And thank you," she said as the two of them studied the map. She looked back at fork in the path, "Looks like both of them leads to that cavern," Pointing at the one that leads up she said, "That one leads to a upper level of the cavern."

Marcus looked at her, "What are you thinking?:

Looking at him she said, "I'm thinking that if we're lucky we can catch him in between three groups instead of two." In this case it was a risk they were going to have to take. Jonathon had one, possibly two, hostages to get away from him. The more they can divide his attention the better the chances at least one of them could get away. And that was if he didn't have any vault items on him. "Marcus, take half of the group and take the path that goes down. I'll take the rest and take the other one. Remember don't take him on unless you see one of the other groups," Granted neither Marcus or Hector was there when she originally said that, but they knew now. And it was best to remind the others of that as well. The group pretty much divided itself with some getting behind Marcus and some behind her. "Everybody be careful and keep an eye out for Olivia and Shae. Get going," Both sets went down their respective tunnel. Jules was silently hoping her biggest fear was wrong and Jonathon didn't have any of the items he took on him.

* * *

As soon as they hit the cavern Shae came to a complete stop, stunned by what she was seeing. When no one walked into her she could only assume Olivia and the thief did the same. It was massive in scope, that much was obvious even with what little light the torch was giving them.. Actually Shae was wondering how the ground above them hadn't come crashing down yet. Wait. was the training ground over there heads? This was underneath them and nobody knew? Then again she didn't know a forbidden vault was here until today so she guessed it was possible. Behind her the thief whistled at what they were seeing. "Now this is something."

"You can always let us go and rot down here by yourself," Shae told him. Wait did that just come out of her mouth?

The thief snorted a bit, "I think I liked you better when you were under Walter's thumb. And everybody thought he was a horrible influence, he has nothing on that Priest you brought in Olivia. Now how do we get out of here?"

"As far as I know the way we just came," Olivia told him. Shae risked a look back. Olivia was staring right at her and she could read her face perfectly, don't do anything stupid. But the thief was occupied by looking at their surroundings this was the perfect chance. He'd notice if she grabbed her brush, But her string was still in her pocket, she thought those notes she found mentioned something about a binding loop, or she thought it did, Jules' friend did have really bad hand writing. But if she was right and could remember how it was illustrated and figure out how to do it while holding this torch then maybe she could trip the thief up by doing it around his feet. Slowly she went for the pocket she kept the string in.

"Hands away from the pocket," the thief ordered. She was so close. "Show it to me and there better be nothing in it." Shae did what she was told. Satisfied that it was empty the Thief said, "You see what I mean. I still have you like this and she thought about trying some sort of crap. Tell me that isn't her influence."

Shae wasn't sure if it was Jules' influence or not. But she was getting tired of him talking about her like that, like she wasn't even here, Walter did that to her all the time, and she wasn't going to take it form somebody else. And not from the person who tried to put the blame on her for his thefts. "She didn't influence me," Shae told him.

"Jules just helped her find her voice," Olivia spoke up. As the thief snorted again Shae looked back at her. Olivia looked so proud of her. She almost tried for the string again but the thief quickly put his eyes on her again.

"Do you know how to make a light orb?" he asked her out of the blue. "Do you? It's too dark and too big in here for that torch to illuminate fully." Shae looked around again, this cave could be bigger? "I'm more than willing to let you walk off a edge to keep me from doing it. So make some orbs already."

"Shae," Olivia spoke up, grabbing her attention. "Did you watch me when I made the one before Walter left you in that room?" Shae thought back to when they put her in that room. Granted she wanted to forget everything about being in there, but she remembered Olivia doing something before making the orb but it was so dark then too. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Olivia move her hands in a certain way. She was showing her how to do it. She did it one more time before saying to the thief. "She's going to need to use her brush to perform it."

"Just for this," he said. "Go ahead hand Olivia the torch and make some orbs, enough that we can see where we're going. But I know how to do it too, so I'll know if you're trying anything funny. If you do," he trailed off and Olivia gasped a little as he pressed the head of that spear tighter to her neck. Shae quickly handed her the torch and took her brush from her belt. Doing the movement eactly as Olivia just showed her, and in plain view of the thief ust so he could see she wasn't trying anything. Finishing them she pointed the brush at the ceiling. Despite the situation Shae got a little excited when one formed, illuminating the immediate area. With a better look she could see now the thief was right, this place was bigger than she originally thought. And is she kept walking straight ahead there was an edge that she could have fell from a few yards ahead of them.

"Not bad," the thief said as he got a better look around. Spotting what looked like walkway extending from the slab they were on he gestured his head in it's direction. "Now go over there and do it again."

She headed that way then looked up as more orbs suddenly appeared in the air around them. They all looked around as more and more just appeared in the air. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness she saw two things, one this place was even bigger than she thought after she lit her orb. And all the Makai Priests that were coming in their direction. So did the thief as he got a tighter grip on Olivia and turned around to try and keep all of them in sight. One, dressed like one of the vault guards stepped forward and said, "Give it up Jonathon there's no way out of here."

"I didn't get here by giving up at the first sign of difficulty Marcus," he said as he pushed Olivia forward. Shae moved quickly to grab her before she fell to the ground. The thief took that moment to run past the two of them and toward another pathway that lead to another slab.. but he ran into a barrier that one of the Priests quickly put up. "You didn't tell anybody did you Olivia?" he said as both groups started to close in on their location. He put his brush to the hilt of his spear, it suddenly started glowing a bright red and he plunged it into the barrier, above his head. Olivia gasped again as he drugged the spear down making a hole in the barrier. Shae wasn't sure what was going on, but that had to how he broke into the vault.

The other Priest outside of the two other vault guards were stunned by what they were seeing. Olivia spoke to her as he stepped through the opening, "Shae can you get that spear away from him with the string?"

Did she know what she was planning earlier? "I'll try," she told her. Olivia stood on her own to give Shae plenty of room to try this. Please let her be able to do this. Grabbing the string from her pocket, she pictured the illustrations from the notes she found and tried to do them. Now picturing the spear in her mind she got the string around the thumb and pinkie of each hand then twisted it into a smaller loop. She saw a bit of energy go around the spear by the hilt in the shape of that loop. Unfortunately the thief saw it too making him pause a bit. Knowing this was her best chance she tightened the loop in her hand making the energy loop tighten as well and pulled, ripping it out of the thief's hand as the opening started to close.

The spear flew a bit before landing a few feet from the two of them. "Quickly Shae," Olivia said, "Hand me that spear." She ran over and got it off the ground as the Priest who put up the barrier quickly took it down to let everyone chase the thief. Handing it to her Olivia started leaning on the spear since she didn't have her cane.

Shae looked around as the thief was being chased by everybody who showed up. Occasionally firing off a blast from his brush at his pursers or physically attacking them if they got to close. All right maybe Jules was influencing her a little as she said, "I'm sorry Olivia," right before she joined the chase after the thief. By putting that thing in her room he made her life hell, She was not going to just stand back and let somebody else catch him or give him the chance to get away, not if she could help it. She heard Olivia yell no at her, she'll deal with the consequences later, right now all she wanted was to see that bastard pay.

* * *

Where did they all come from? That thought flew threw his mind several times as he got a quick look behind him and saw the group that was after him. They all didn't come in from the same entrance he did. There was no way all of them snuck past him. So that meant there was another way out of here, it was just a matter of finding it. First he had to get behind the the bunch that had stood in front of him when they revealed themselves. And Jonathon knew he couldn't stop for a second to get his bearings. Not if he wanted to get out of here alive, and after some of the things he'd done, the lives he was forced to take, he knew none of them wouldn't regret it if he was 'accidentally' killed while trying to capture him.

Jonathon kept moving while trying to get a good look at his surroundings. That was one of the things that made him perfect for being a vault guard, his ability to take a situation in with a glance and determine the course of action he should take. Emily told him that when she and Olivia first recruited him. Right now he spotted another stone like platform. It looked close enough to where they originally were. He could get there and jump to the other one and get a few more seconds to figure out how they got in. Not the best of plans but it was the best he had at the moment. He looked back to see Marcus right behind him, face full of rage and already swinging his spear at him. He spun and raised his hands up, catching the shaft of the spear, pulling just hard enough to throw him off balance. In that moment he just created Jonathon swung the spear from his end making Marcus an obstacle and making some of the Priests chacing him stop in their tracks, giving him a little more time.

He and Marcus looked at each other in the brief moment. In the other man's face he saw all the betrayal all his fellow vault guards must be feeling once they heard who was behind it all. Instead of any hint of regret Jonathon's one lone thought at that moment was. what's one more? He lashed out with a kick that staggered Marcus, with one last drive he pushed him off the edge of the path they were on and ripped the spear from his hand. As he turned he was vaguely aware that a couple quickly reached out to keep him from falling to the bottom of this cavern. In saving him they just created a bit of a roadblock for the others. Jonathon ran for that other path with all he had, then got a good look at the distance between both platforms. There was no way he could make that jump and not get shot down by all the Makai Priest here. Looking up he saw a few people with swords, Makai Knights of course they would get involved, run in his direction and jump the gap to his platform easily. "It's over murderer," one of them said.

"Not while I'm still moving," he said defiantly. This wasn't his spear but it should still work. He quickly brought his brush to the tip of the spear, making it glow and swung it in a wide arc, creating a massive energy wave that knocked the Knights and a few of the Priest behind him to the ground, again creating a roadblock as his pursuers tried not to step on their comrades while they tried to get to their feet. Running in he kicked a Knight in thr head who almost did that to knock him back to the ground. In that second he realized something, that woman wasn't here. Don't worry about that bitch just keep using their numbers against them, that was the only advantage you have right now. A few Priest were able to get through and come at him. Now that he had a weapon he could put up more of a fight. Block any kick or blow from their brushes with the spear's shaft, but leaving his legs free to kick out and land some blows on his own. Feeling a hand grab his shirt he immediately spun the spear around and plunged it into that person. A quick glance back after he removed it showed a Knight clutching at a growing red spot on his chest as he fell to the ground.

Then they started looking at each other and started waving each other back. No, don't get smart now and try to get reorganized. Attack me all at once, the numbers are against me. You know I can only get that lucky for so long. But that's exactly what they were doing, backing off, readjusting their strategy, to refocus their attack instead of attacking in mass. Fine let them, he still had that ace in his pocket. It was one piece off a worn chest plate, it couldn't be that hard to activate. Then out of the corner of his eye he spotted another path. They saw it as well as started to move. He brought his brush to the tip of the spear again and swung it. They all jumped back. But he was already running for the path by the time they realized there was no energy arc this time. They bought his ruse hook, line and sinker. Then he ran into another barrier, "What?" He looked around at who cast this thing then his jaw dropped.. The brat stood across the way lowering her hands, some sort of string laced between the fingers of both hands. She cast this barrier, blocked what could have been his last chance to get away. "You little bitch," he sneered at her.

Getting a new grip on this spear he took in the situation in front of him. Picked out who exactly was in his way and who could try to block him. He was going to kill her if it was the last thing he did. And it might be but at least she'd be dead first. Jonathon looked her in the eyes from this distance. Her body language changed slightly, like she could sense his intention. But she didn't try to hide behind anybody. She just stood there and not in deer in headlights way. Jonathon had to admit the kid had guts, more than he or anyone would have ever guessed. A few of the others figured out what was happening and quickly got between the two of them. If it was the last thing he did. He attacked the group with a viciousness that took a few of them by surprised. At least two went down as the spear sliced their flesh. He didn't know if it was a fatal blow or not, he didn't care. More came at him but in their attempt to keep the girl safe they let themselves get disorganized again the closer he was able to get.

Knocking one more person back, he realized he had a clear shot at the girl. She knew it too but she didn't shrink back. She went for her brush. He started to move. She had something in her other hand and waved her brush across it. In the light he got the barest glint of something reflecting the man made lights in the air and barely reacted in time as a metal spike soared past his head. His eyes widened as he felt a slight breeze as it past, if the light from all the orbs didn't reflect off it he doubted he would have reacted in time. The kid just tried to kill him, she really just tried to kill him. Jonathon started chuckling at the realization before going off on a full on laugh. He could feel everyone stare at him, probably figuring he just went mad or something. He wasn't exactly sure he hadn't himself, this wasn't the sane response to almost dying.

A priest just stood there as he plunged the spear into her heart. He locked eyes with the girl again, now there was some fear in her eyes. Good he wanted her afraid of him right before he did the same to her. He took one step forward saw something glowing come right at him from above. Jonathon quickly took a step back to avoid it. He felt a brief tingling sensation as the resulting energy wave disbursed kicking up some dust that briefly blocked his vision. Through the haze he heard the girl say one thing, a name, "Jules." As the dust began to settle he saw her there, kneling on the ground, the bristles of her brush right where he would have been if he didn't move. She stared right at him, he stared right back.


	15. Chapter 14

A lot of thoughts crossed her mind as she kept her eyes on Jonathon. Things like, how lucky was this bastard? How many Priest and Knights were still alive? Why didn't Shae just run when she had the chance? But one thought in particular would have surprised the lot of them if she said it out loud, of course Carter wasn't here when she had the cooler entrance. But Jules shoved all of those thoughts aside as he she stood, fully at the ready in case he tried to attack. Instead he took a step back himself, slowly twirling the spear in his hands. Then he looked around as more Makai Priests and Knights dropped down from that upper tunnel they took to get here. They circled him as the group that originally found him joined in. Jonathon tried to keep his eyes on her and the group at the same time. Jules looked over at one of the Priest she recognized from the meeting they had right before setting off into those rediscovered tunnels, "I thought I told you all to have somebody drag Shae back to Olivia's office when you spotted her."

That person looked back at Shae and shrugged his shoulders, "It got busy."

"I'm trying to," Shae started to protest until Jules held up a finger while making sure Jonathon wasn't going to take advantage of the situation.

"We'll talk later," Jules told her sternly. She briefly recalled Vincent using a similar tone with her and Reks on occasion after he started mentoring the two of them. But she could not have been this much trouble when she was Shae's age. Not wasting another moment she jumped at Jonathon. Sliding under a swing from that spear she swept her leg out. He jumped over that move as Marcus and Hector joined in on the attack. The two of them worked together to keep him off balance. Jules was used to fighting with Carter but they all practiced what was basically the same fighting style, with the two of them being more straight forward in their technique and her more dancer like movements being two of several variations so she was able to mesh with them rather easily. Of course Jonathon was more than familiar with the fighting style they used as well and did what he could to anticipate what they would do.

Jonathon started swinging wildly again, the last time she saw him do that one man died and Emily got hurt. So she pulled back a bit. Marcus and Hector did the same while making else tried to get any closer. He did bring his brush out. It took Jules a moment to realize the glowing bristles weren't aimed at any of them. He was aiming it at Shae. Turning around she dove for the girl and dragged her to the ground as the bolt flew over them. She looked to see the barrier Shae put up fade away. Jonathon saw it as well and ran for it. "No you don't," Jules muttered as she quickly got to her feet and started to chase after him.

Jonathon had already crossed over to the other platform. Then he used his Brush and spear again to create another energy arc. Jules and the others had already stopped to get ready to jump over it when they realized that it wasn't directed at them. The bridge that he took just crumbled as the arc hit it. One of the Knights ran at it full bore and jumped. Jonathon was ready for it and threw the spear at him, impaling him in the gut. A few of the others caught him before he fell onto the floor below. Jules didn't want to think how far down that bottom actually was or how to get down there to retrieve any body unfortunate enough to end up down there. "Come on," Jonathon taunted her from across the way, "You were brought in to stop me, so stop me. Or are you just going to let me get away like a failure and prove Walter was right?!"

"Seriously," Jules mumbled. She wasn't so eager to shut him up to not realize this was a trap. He wanted her to try and jump over. Oh she was going over there all right, just not in the way he expected. Keeping him in sight she shouted, "Shae!" Pretty sure she had her attention now she called out, "I need a bridge." She took her eyes off Jonathon just long enough ro see Shae work the string between her fingers and throw her arms toward the gap. One she saw the tell tale glimmer of the barrier she just cast form Jules took off in a dead run. Not even hesitating she used that barrier to reach the other side. Seeing this Jonathon fired off a blast from his brush. Rolling under it she came back up in a run. Jonathon saw this and started to run away. He didn't go far before he realized that there was no where to go from this platform. By the time he turned back around his head snapped back from a straight punch from her.

That didn't stun him for as long as she would have liked. He staggered from the blow but he quickly faced her and went back to a fighting stance. Jules didn't give him a chance to do anything as she launched herself at him. Jonathon covered up as best he could as she tried to break his defesnes and finish this before this went on any further. He tried to surprise her with a sudden kick. Jules jumped up, and landed on the outstretched leg long enough to nail a short kick of her back again he got a grip on his brush and lashed out with it. She bent backwards slightly to avoid it. But doing so left her off balanced enough for a quick trip that sent her to her back. She rolled out of the way as his foot came at her face.

Getting to a knee she was knocked back down from a kick from his other leg. He gripped her neck to keep her in place as he raised his brush above his head. She kicked him in the back and made him stumble forward a bit, but he let go of her neck. Raising up a bit Jules rolled back a bit to get to her feet, grabbed his arm and got it in a hold using her legs. Now she had several free shots at his head. Now either he was as stubborn as she thought he was or had a harder head than anticipated because he was not going down. She faced Horrors that were easier to take out than he was turning out to be. Alright, new plan, gripping the wrist of the arm she trapped she pulled and twisted on it. Break the arm and the battle was part way done, and it was working as he screamed in pain as he tried to move with her to relieve the pressure. With another yell he planted his feet as slowly got her off the ground. She lost some of her leverage but Jules hung on like her life depended on it. Then he slammed her down to the ground, knocking the breath out of her.

He shook his arm once it was free. Then grabbed her and hauled her up. Jules shot her head forward as soon as she could. Both of them staggered back a bit. She cleared the cob webs first and went at him again. Again he wasn't as stunned as she'd hoped as he grabbed her arm when attempted a backhand and twisted it with all he had. She gasped out in pain as she went to a knee. Jonathon kept twisting, Jules went with the pressure and rolled forward to her back and kicked him in the head. . When she got to her feet to face him she was met with a hard knee to the gut that dropped her to her knees. He started kicking her in the side, not giving her a chance to get back to her feet. "You just had to ruin things!", he shouted at her. "It was supposed to be easy!" he said with another kick. "All of you stay back or this bitch dies now!", He suddenly screamed at the others right before he kicked her again.

Knocked down Jules ignored the pain and kept rolling until she was far enough to get to her feet. She ran at him again. Jumping up she twisted in the air until she landed on his shoulders, straddling his head. Making sure she had a solid grip on his head with her legs she let herself fall backwards, gravity and momentum making Jonathon fall with her and crashing hard on the ground, practically on the top of his head. Now fully stunned as he got to his knees Jules came in with a knee to his head that knocked him flat on his back. He barely moved at that point, he was staying down. Holding her side Jules looked back at the others looking at her. Walking forward she went to the gap and tested something with her foot, Shae's bridge was still in place. "Well tie him up already," she told them.

Cautiously a few of them did the same test that she just did before slowly crossing over. Once Marcus and a few others did a cough caught their attention. Jonathon was getting up again, he pulled his hand out of his pocket, holding some sort of circular device with a large red jewel on it. Jules immediately held out her arms to keep the others back. He started grinning, "You're afraid of this little thing? It's gotta do something good then."

"Put it down and walk away from it," Jules ordered him. "You have no idea what that is."

"Yeah but you do," he sneered. "I didn't want to use anything I took, but I got no choice now so this is on you." With his brush in his other hand he ran the glowing bristles over the jewel. "It can't be that hard to activate." The jewel kept glowing as Jules tried to back everybody up.. Jonathon stared as the device left his hand than plant itself on his chest, right over his heart. "Argh," he grunted and started to tear at it as it dug in deeper into his skin. Then it started to expand around him, first forming a chest plate then covering his arms and legs. With pain filled eyes he looked right at her, "What is this th..." He was cut off as his head was covered.

"We got to get it off of him," Jules quickly said as she ran forward. Jonathon pounded the ground causing a shock wave that knocked her and the others off their feet. Standing a little straighter he looked at his armored limbs then at them. Apparently not feeling any more pain he came at them with slow steady steps. A few blasts hit him. On the other platform Olivia had joined Shae and a few others Priest to attack Jonathon from there. Jules got to her feet and fired off a few blasts of her own, in particular aiming for that jewel. Or at least she was trying to but he kept moving so she couldn't get a clear shot at it.

"What is that thing?", Marcus asked as he and Hector joined in on the blasting.

"I told you something would get out," Hector said, fear evident in his voice. Jules was afraid right along with him. But fear wasn't going to help right now. Just pretend it's another Horror you hunted down with Carter.

"Hrctor, Marcus grab some more Priest and bind his limbs, fast!" She hoped the urgency she was feeling was understood by the the rest of them. Apparently it was as they went in different sides of Jonathon. He looked undecided as he went back and forth between both sides. It was enough that a few made some sort of energy rope come from their brushes that wrapped themselves around his legs and forearms. They struggled and pulled as he fought to free himself. Running in Jules jumped on him, getting a grip on the back of his head then jammed her brush at the jewel. Jonathon started to struggle more as she tried to deactivate the jewel and get him out of there before it was too late. Getting an arm free he tore her loose and tossed her into the other group making them drop the binds on their side. "Bind him again!", Jules yelled. Then Jonathon stopped and hunched over slightly. A muffled scream hit their ears. "No,", she muttered.

He took a step forward, but his movements were more automatic, almost robotic looking. Then the casing around him expanded as he grew in size and height. Everyone wisely stepped away from what they were seeing, even on the other platforms. Then spikes formed on the outside. One flew off and impaled one of the Priests. Her blood was seen going through the tube that attached the spike to the armor. Once she went down another spike launched itself. Marcus pushed the intended target out of the way but fell victim to the spike and suffered the same fate.

"Keep moving!", Jules said to the rest of them. No time to mourn now. They all did so, some barely avoiding the spikes that kept firing out. "Try to get the jewel!"

"Easier said than done," Hector said as he side stepped on of the spikes.

"I know," she said as she flipped over one herself. Putting her left hand in her pocket she grabbed the sparking device she created and put it on as she kept running to avoid the spikes. Everybody struggled to keep their footing as he pounded the ground again. Olivia, Shae and the other Priest fired at him. Jules shouted out, "Drop the bridge!" Eventually that thing was going to discover or remember that it was there and they needed to keep it confined here for as long as possible.

"But you'll be stuck with him!", she cried out.

"Just do it!" she shouted back. Even after Olivia told her it was all right Shae was still reluctant but but she removed the bridge she made. "Keep it distracted but don't get hit," she told one of the remaining Knights who nodded along with some Priest and circled around the thing. Like she hoped it looked confused but kept firing the spikes out that were being avoided. Jules retrieved one of the grey slips Shae had made earlier. Making sure she was at the right distance she held the slip in the same hand as her brush. Holding both hands in front of her she snapped her fingers on her left hand and drew her brush away from it, drawing a flame from the spark. Pirouetting the trail of fire spun around her as she raised her hands over her head. The fire collected itself in a ball over her head as she grabbed the grey slip with her left hand. Jonathon stopped what he was doing and faced her, but those tubes were still moving menacingly in the air, the spikes started to point toward her. But she had a clear shot at that jewel now. Lowering her arms she ran her brush and fireball over the grey slip. A flaming spike fired out of her hand. Jules held her breath and barely dared to move as she watched spike fly toward the armor. It impaled the jewel and he barely reacted. Then the spike exploded, destroying the jewel in the process. It fell backwards as Jules slowly stepped forward.

She was the only one who didn't jump back as the armor began to shrink and retract itself back into the original device. Everybody stared at the skeleton that was left behind, all meat and blood picked clean from the bones. Jules just looked on as the Jewel quickly reformed itself and sighed. She was really hoping that was going to be the end of this thing.

"What the hell was that?", Hector said loud enough for everyone in the cavern to hear. Jules looked around until she found Olivia, who nodded at her.

She nodded back, they deserved to know after facing this thing. "It's called the Condemned. It was created right before the Makai Knights were. It was to be used by a Priest who was too injured or outnumbered to come out alive, hence the name. It was also designed to make sure nothing was left behind to be eaten by a Horror or anything else. It was powered by it's wearer, but that fuel source was quickly ran through so it would go looking for more, even draining the blood and bodies of those that were under attack from the Horrors," she looked back at all the fallen on the ground, including Marcus, "Or those who were fighting along with it. Even using the dead body as a fuel source if it had to." The rest of them looked at the fallen as well, fully understanding the weight of her explanation. "If I didn't get the jewel the only other choice was to wait for it to run out of gas." She looked around again, "And that wasn't going to be any time soon."

Reaching down she carefully removed the device from the skeleton's rib cage. As she studied it she really wanted to chuck it over the edge and let the cavern have it. But it wouldn't be any safer down there. No, there was only one place were this thing belonged. And after today Jules figured nobody was going to let this out of the vault any time soon. "Shae, we need a way back across," she called out and she obliged by remaking her bridge to let them back across. "Triple seal this thing," she told Olivia as she handed it to her.

"I'll do more than that," she said as Shae came in and hugged Jules around the waist, wrapping an arm around her Jules started walking to the path that would take them out of there, Olivia and the others soon followed.

* * *

It was too much to hope that what just happened was the end of it. Shae saw the healer waiting for them once they got close enough to Olivia's office. There was a look on her face she thought her father once wore when he told her that Grandma had passed on. Jules seemed to tense up as well as Olivia walked past them to the healer. "Emily?", she asked. There was some murmurs behind them, She felt Jules grip her a little tighter.

The healer shook her head and lowered it slightly. Hearing somebody punch a wall made her jump slightly and look back. The vault guard that was still with them, his hand was still in place but he had this look on his face that made her step a little closer to Jules. "A few minutes ago," she said. It took them that long to get back here.

Jules let go of her and went to Olivia and put a arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry," she said softly to her. Turning her attention to the healer she said, "The reverter, the Madou flame?"

"They healed her physical wounds," she said. "But there was something else, something we didn't detect until it was too late." She looked at them, "The weapon he used, do any of you know where it is?"

"It's right here," Olivia said as she handed it over. They all watch as the healer examined the spear. Putting it on the desk she searched her pockets. Shae joined Jules and Olivia at the desk as more came into the office. Producing a vial with with a clear liquid she removed a wooden tube from it, a finger tight against one end. Holding it over the spear head she carefully let a few drops fall on to it. Shae, Jules and Olivia all watched as those drops instantly turned black as they hit the metal. "That's what I was afraid of," she said.

"What does that mean?", Shae asked Jules.

Jules looked angry for a moment before answering. "He did something to his spear," she told her. "Poison?", she asked the healer, who just nodded.

"It's probably more than that," Olivia told her. "That spear is how he got past the barriers. We all saw it." Jules looked down at her. Shae just nodded. Olivia took back the spear and handed it to vault guard and told him. "Hector, examine this to figure out how he did what he did to it." With a bit more sadness in his voice she added, "Then tell Jasmine and Trevor, they been out of t his loop for too long, for good or bad."

"Of course Olivia," he said with a slight nod. But Shae did hear him say, low enough that he thought nobody would have heard him, "Bastard's lucky that thing got him before I did.." Jules heard it as well and stared after him until Olivia grabbed her arm.

"He's dealing with this in his own way," she told her. "As we all will. As we all do, in our own way and at our own time." She looked at the rest of the group,"Thank you for what you've done today. I know you want answers, and I'll supply what I can. But I'm under orders from the Makai Senate so I won't be able to answer everything, no matter how much you deserve to know." She leaned against her desk and looked... numb for the lack of a better word. "If you will excuse me for a few minutes, I need time to process everything that's happened, and make a report to the Senate."

Nobody said anything as they left her office. Jules pulled the two of them in a different direction to let the rest go out the door. Shae looked up at her, "You were still trying to save him." When she looked at her she went on, "After everything he'd done. With everybody he'd killed, you still tried to save him from that thing."

"Because I knew what he had, and nobody deserves to go like he did," she told her. "No matter how much you think he actually deserved it." Sighing she added, "Just part of being a protector kiddo. You don't get to pick and choose who to save. You do what we do and you have to try and protect who you can."

"I don't think I like that," Shae told her.

"Don't tell my husband, but there are some days that I would agree with you." she looked back up to see most of the crowd was mostly gone. "Come on, let's find Nadia and show her that you're still in one piece." Holding her side a bit she added, "Maybe see the healer myself right after that." They walked out of the building, for some reason it looked too bright and sunny out considering everything that's happened under everyone's feet.

* * *

The healers gave her a clean bill of health. The still painful ache in her side begged to differ. But they assured her that nothing was broken and she'd be fine in a few days. Not only that she was good to leave whenever she wanted. Shae heard that bit and it apparently didn't sit all that well with her, as she was already gone by the time the healer was done with her. Jules exited the building and looked around trying to locate her. She didn't see Shae any where close, although she did spot Nadia. "Have you seen Shae?"

"Yeah," she said and pointed behind her. "The spot she's usually at when she's thinking about her crush." And that wasn't all that helpful, at all. "She looked upset about something and told me to leave her alone."

"I guess she would be," Jules said, mainly to herself. Nadia started to walk away so she called out again, "And this spot would be?"

"Where she found those notes."

Okay that made sense. Shae didn't seem the type to just examine something like a pile of rocks just because she saw it for the first time. Actually Jules didn't think anybody would have, otherwise those notes would have been found long before now. "Thanks Nadia."

"Not a problem." Both of them turned and headed in different directions.

Maybe being a technical outsider Jules noticed everyone seemed to be on edge more than they were when she first arrived. Then again that was normal considering everything that happened today. Jules still wasn't sure how Olivia was going to handle the aftermath, while they probably didn't know it was a forbidden vault just about everyone knew something was here now. And that was going to be a rumor around here for a long, long time. And said vault was currently down four guards now so they were going to have to be replaced. Now if Olivia had the final say in choosing those replacements or the Senate was going to send them, she didn't know.,either way she didn't envy the woman.

She, and everyone else, stopped momentarily when there was a muffled explosion and the ground seemed to shake slightly. Everyone else looked around, she just kept on walking. If she was right then Olivia took her advice and destroyed that tunnel she found. Well that was one way to the chamber they didn't have to worry about any more.

Walking to the far end of the training ground she found the brook, then followed it until she found Shae, sitting on a rock. And almost looking as miserable as when she first saw her. Jules heart broke a little as she realized she was the reason why. That was the last thing she wanted to do the girl, but seeing how she was leaving it was inevitable. Hopefully what she was able to arranged would make it up to her. Once she was a few yards away she stopped and said, "Mind if I join you?"

"There's no barrier up," was her answer. Jules stepped closer and sat on the rock next to her. Luckily she didn't move away, she still wasn't looking at her though. Jules sat there and waited for her to say something. Anything. She eventually did, "So you're leaving."

"I'm afraid so," she told her. "I was only asked to come to deal with what was going on. That job is done and Olivia doesn't need me around any more." She specifically mentioned Olivia because she didn't want Shae to think her feelings didn't matter, not after everything she did today to get her to open up more. "But I wasn't going to leave until I talked with you. And let's be honest, the instructors around here don't want me corrupting anyone else."

"Somebody like Nadia?", Shae asked. Was that a smile? Jules was pretty sure that was a smile she tried to hide just now. She was at least willing to joke back.

"Nadia doesn't need my help," Jules told her. She might as well admit it out loud to somebody. "She's pretty much me when I was her age. So there's a possible look into the future if the two of you are still friends by then."

"Oh no," Shae said with a little laugh. Then she got all sad again. "I knew you were going to leave once it was over. But," she went quiet. Jules was silently begging her to don't stop speaking now. "But I was hoping that you'd be my new mentor once it was done."

"Oh Shae," she said as she put an arm around her and gave her a quick squeeze, "I would have loved to be you mentor. I really would have. But I'm not an instructor here, so more than likely you would have to come with me. Now I don't know you parents, but I doubt they'd be thrilled with the idea of you going on the occasional Horror hunt." Not to mention that Carter probably wasn't ready to have a teenager in the house just yet, but she didn't say that out loud.

"No they wouldn't," Shae agreed. "In fact they would freak." Jules smirked a bit. Her parents weren't exactly thrilled when they found out Vincent was training her to hunt down Horrors. Finally she looked up and smiled. "My new one can't be worse than Walter."

"Olivia was going to have to try and find some body worse than Walter." Hearing people approach Jules looked up and saw Olivia and somebody else, a Makai Priest with dark red hair, walk up to them. She started smiling, this timing couldn't have been better. To Shae she said, "But I did talk Olivia into letting me take a shot at it. Shae," Jules gently pulled on her arm to get her to stand up, "This is my friend Sharron. Luckily she was in the area and agreed to met you."

"Hello," Shae said softly.

"Hi," Sharron said as she took a step forwards. "I heard you found my notes." At that Shae looked at her with a little wonder.

"You're notes?", she asked. Sharon gave her a quick nod to confirm what she said. Shae looked at Jules with a bit of confusion.

"Well I figured the two of had something in common with the string thing," she told her. "But don't take my word for it." Gently she pushed Shae toward Sharron, "Go for a walk, talk for a bit, get to know each other. See if this will be a good fit for both of you."

"It couldn't hurt," Sharron said. Both of them started to go. Then Shae went back to her and hugged her around the waist. Jules grimaced in pain a bit but hugged her back.

"Thank you for believing in me," Shae told her. Both Olivia and Sharron smiled at the two of them.

"Thank me by becoming an awesome Makai Priest," Jules informed her.

"Let me guess," Shae said as she pulled away a bit, "You didn't say great because you're the great one?" All right maybe she was that bad of an influence after all. Another reason for Sharron to mentor her.

Still she grinned and pulled her back into another hug, "You got that right, and I don't need the competition" With one last squeeze they both let go. Shae went to Sharron who had a smirk on her face.

"I see some things haven't changed," she commented as they started walking away. "I heard you made a bridge, I never even thought of that. You're going to have to show me that one."

Once they were around the bend Jules sighed a little. She would have loved to have kept that girl under her wing, help her grow into being somebody truly spectacular. But her current occupation didn't really allow for it, at least not easily. Olivia seemed to sense the sadness in her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You made the right choice. But a good fit?"

"It's how Vincent explained it when I asked him why he took me and Reks on. It felt like a good fit." Jules sighed as she thought about her former mentor. "I should probably stop quoting him considering what he tried to do."

Olivia studied her for a few moments. Jules wasn't sure why she was but it was starting to unnerve her a little. Eventually she said, "Come with me. I want to show you something." Jules was confused but she followed the older woman.

* * *

They didn't go far, just to the other side of the brook. It was an area Jules knew was there but never once visited, mainly because when she was originally here she never saw the need to. It was a cemetery, mainly where any instructor, guard or head of the training ground were placed for there final rest. Although she heard rumors that others were buried here as well, if the current head thought it was important enough. Again Jules never saw the need to visit this particular area before now so that last part was just that, rumors. Olivia lead them through and she took a moment here and there to check the dates on various headstones as they passed. "I was going to pay my final respects to Emily and Marcus and the others before I left," she told the older woman.

She kept on walking, "I'm sure you were dear. But there was something else I wanted to show you. Or somebody else I should say." Jules was confused but she kept on following. Before long they were past the headstones but Olivia kept going. She looked around, still confused about what was going on. As far as she knew there was nothing out here past the cemetery. Then she spotted a series of crypts. Before she could ask Olivia said. "I had someone laid to rest here over a year ago. There was some out cry from some of the others and a few connected to this place on the outside. But I knew him for far too long to let him rest in some unmarked grave."

Jules stopped as her mind reeled a bit. Over a year ago? Out cry from the others? She knew him for far too long? Olivia seemed to sense she wasn't being followed any more and turned to face her, saying nothing. Swallowing hard she eventually got out a name, "Vincent?" Olivia simply nodded then continued on. Jules now noticing she was heading for one in particular. "Why?", she demanded but Olivia kept on walking towad the crypt. "After he fell trying to expose our world, why?"

"As I said," she reached the crypt door and gave it a gentle push. It opened easily and she walked right in, "I knew him for far too long." Jules stood there a moment, undecided before setting her resolve and followed her in. Inside was a single tomb, there was no markings, nothing to say who it was, but Jules felt her stomach twist any way. Vincent was in there, she should be sad but all she was feeling at that moment was anger. A feeling that almost exploded when Olivia said, "And he didn't fall."

"He killed a mother and her children," she said as loud as she dared in the building. "He manipulated and killed Reks. He was going to expose thousands to Horror blood. How did he not fall?"

Olivia was calm as she turned toward the tomb, "That is one way to look at it." Jules just stared at her, what other way was there to look at what happened? "But if he truly fell then he wouldn't have set things to make sure he was one of those exposed to the Horror blood. He was skilled enough to make sure that happened of that was the case. And it wouldn't be that hard to add a timer to that device he created. I should know, I asked to study the device he was using to use for the task. He was ready to die from his actions. That is not the action of one who had fallen in my experience, not completely any way."

"And that absolves him from everything he'd done?", she demanded as Olivia started to leave.

Turning her head slight she said, "Of course not. The simple fact he was going to sacrifice himself tells me he didn't think it would either. Not the man I knew for years. Tell me Jules," she stopped at the door and turned around. "Was he truly any different then compared to the day the two of you originally left here?" Jules didn't answer, Olivia took her silence as her answer, "I didn't think so. No he knew his actions were heinous and probably felt that would have been a proper punishment for his deeds compared to anything the Senate would have come up with.

Jules had to catch her breath. He did say something similar when she and Carter confronted him that day. On one level it did make sense. But she had a hard time matching the person she loved so dearly to the man who did what he did. Finding her voice she asked, "Why did you show this to me?"

"Because I think you need some sort of closure," came the surprising answer. "Several times today, when you quoted something he said, you'd get this look on your face, Like you were annoyed with yourself, almost disappointed that you did so.. As close as the two of you were, even doing the things he did, you wouldn't cut out everything he said to or taught you."

"Normally I'd agree with you," she countered. Walking away from the tomb she looked the older woman right in the eyes. "But I saw the bodies. I saw Reks die right in front of me. You didn't have to deal with any of that." Her anger was close to getting away from her. And right now Jules didn't care if she would say anything she'd regret later or not.

"True," Olivia said which raised her anger even higher. "But at least take this moment to say goodbye," she was dumbfounded for a moment. Say goodbye? After everything he'd done, was she crazy? "At least get a few things off your chest. It helps more than you think," she told her. "Think of it as one last lesson from the training ground. I'll be waiting outside when you're done."

She passed through the door before Jules could even protest. Keeping her back turned to the tomb she stared at the open doorway. It would be so easy to just walk through that door right now. Olivia wouldn't say anything, she might not agree with it but she would respect her choice. Maybe even say she could comeback to say that 'goodbye' anytime she wanted. It would be so easy to walk through that door and forget this place even existed. It would be so easy.

And yet she wasn't moving any closer to that open door. When she did take a step it was backwards toward the tomb. Turning around she stopped by the side of it and just stared at it for the longest time She didn't have a need to say goodbye, but there were things on her chest she could get rid of all right. Slowly she started walking around the tomb, not taking her eyes off of it. "It's been a while," she cautiously said. "A lot has happened. Me and Carter got married a few months ago. Just about everyone I knew was there, Just about, of course you weren't there. You should have been, you should have been the one performing the ceremony." she stopped talking, she did not want to say that, out loud or otherwise. Softly she added, "You were the reason why we met, it should have been you. But no, you had the damn broken dream of yours that you tried to make happen."

She paused again, to choke back a sob she felt coming. She felt her anger rise again and she didn't try to hold it back. "You set yourself up to die, if you felt you deserved that fate after everything you did fine. You got exactly what you deserved. But did you stop to think about afterwards? At how many eyes would be looking at me for answer I never had? Did you even care?" There was enough of a ledge around the tomb that she sat on it, trying to get herself under control, still she wiped a tear from her cheek

Taking a breath, she calmed herself down enough that she felt she could continue. "I was gone for a while, even though the questioning only took about a month. I told Carter that I had to figure things out before I came back. He never once asked what I was trying to figure out, I should probably tell him one of these days." Getting off that ledge she walked away a bit. She still didn't want to say this next part out loud, but she knew she had to. "You manipulated Reks," spinning around she faced the tomb and got closer, "You saw how he felt about Carter and the other Makai Knights. Instead of trying to talk him down or find out why you fed it, you fed his anger and disgust and used him as cover for your real plan. And that got me to thinking, if you manipulated him, his feelings. If you did that to him who else did you manipulate? Did you do that to me and Carter?" Tears started to fall again, "I started to doubt how I felt about him. And I hated you for that doubt being there. Almost as much as what you did to Reks."

Sitting back on that ledge, she let the tears fall for a bit. When she finally started wiping them away she was softly chuckling to herself, "Then I remembered that stupid love spell. Do you remember? You caught me trying to get it to work, you didn't even know I was going to use it on you because I wanted to see you happy with someone. You told me that even if it worked it wouldn't in the long run because it wouldn't be real." Leaning back she rested her head against the tomb. Feeling how cold the stone felt against the back of her head, "That the best you could do was get two people together that you'd think would be a good match for each other and hope for the best." She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, "That's what you did with me and Carter wasn't it? You just introduced us and hoped for the best.:"

Standing up again she dusted herself off as she faced the tomb. "I don't know if I can ever forgive you for doing what you did. I know I'm never going to understand it. But what done is done, you can't go back and change the past." Putting a hand on the tomb she softly said, "Goodbye Vincent." Then she left the crypt. Olivia was there to greet her as she exited. Closing the door she put a arm around her, gave her a quick, comforting hug. Then the two of them walked away, although she wouldn't admit it to her at that particular moment, Jules did feel a slight sense of closure she probably did need after getting all of that in the open.


	16. Epilogue

It was already dark by the time she got to the path that lead toward home. Jules stood there remembering all the times she took this road to see Carter, maybe see if she could stay the night for whatever reason. Before they became engaged Jules started to wonder why he never protested when she started to make her way to his room instead of the guest room she used to use before then. In hindsight it wasn't the most subtle way to get him to realize the feeling she had for him at the time. Then again as Xypher once said he was too proper of a Knight.

Taking the path she was soon greeted by the familiar sight of the softly glowing lanterns that illuminated this path at night until the early morning. She smiled as the house came into view and quickened her pace slightly, and briefly holding her side when she started going too fast. Bur she was home now, and at the moment everything felt right in the world. Despite knowing better, part of her couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Carter wasn't there to greet her. But given what they did that wasn't a realistic expectation. She should have told that to Shae when she had the chance. Well some things were better learned by life experiences than just being told. Going up the steps she opened the door and walked through. Might as well give it a shot, "I'm back." she called out.

She was slightly surprised when Mason stepped into the hallway, "Welcome home Miss Jules. Am In correct in assuming that task you were asked to preform is over?"

"For better or worse, yes," she told him. Still she looked up the stairs then into the den, no where to be seen. He was probably out on assignment somewhere.

She was aware Mason was staring at her, and after a moment spoke up, "Is something wrong Miss?"

She graced him with a small smile, "No Mason, everything just fine." Maybe it was because of his job but he didn't look all that convinced. Should she tell him? It couldn't hurt, "I just got this stupid notion in my head that Carter would be here waiting for me/"

"Oh, that was his original intent," Mason told her. "But Mr. Eric requested his presence a little while after you left. I believe it was about the number of Horrors he had sealed away since becoming Rook. Mr. Eric felt Carter was ready for a new piece of the Rook legacy. Much like with the armor it is something that has to be earned first."

"Of course it is," she said. At this point she was surprised he didn't have to fight anybody to get Mason. "Don't take this the wrong way Mason, but why are you still here? On the days that you're here you're usually gone by now. Not that I'm not happy to see you that is."

"Of course Miss," he said with a slight chuckle. "But Carter wasn't sure how long his task was going to last, so he asked if I would greet you in his place in case you returned before he did."

"After everything that happened today I'm glad somebody did." They stopped talking when they heard the front door open. She started grinning as a battered and rough looking Carter stood there looking tired, but happy to see her. She walk up to him.

He stepped closer as well, eventually saying, "I'm home."

"So am I," she said as she hugged him around the neck, after today she needed to feel his presence against her right now. "You look like hell by the way." He grunted but hugged her back. Unfortunately squeezing right were that bastard was kicking her earlier. A quick "Ah", escaped her lips before she could stop it.

He quickly stopped hugging her and looked at her, face full of concern, "Are you all right?"

"I've been better," she told him, "but I'll be fine." Giving him a wicked grin she added, "But we might have to wait on a proper welcome home greeting for a couple of days."

Mason coughed into his hand to get their attention, "I most apologize for one thing." Carter didn't react but she was slightly confused. "I did promise to have dinner waiting for you when you returned. However I had no idea when either of you would return so I haven't prepared anything."

"It's fine Mason," Carter told him.

"Wouldn't be the first time we had to fend for ourselves" she added. A cold sandwich wasn't exactly sounding so ideal at that particular moment. But it was better than nothing.

"That may be," he said, "however I did phone that cafe the two of you are so fond of. They should be open for a few more hours yet, if you wish to dine there for the evening. And since they knew who the two of you are and what you usually ask for I took the liberty of placing an order for you. It should be ready for you by the time you arrive."

"Thank you Mason," Carter said with a small rare smile for the man.

Letting go of Carter she walked over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "You're the best Mason."

He looked slightly embarrassed by the show of affection, "I do try Miss." She gave a quick wave as the two of them walked out the front door. "Do enjoy your evening." he called our as they went back down the path.

Walking the path it wasn't long before she felt Carter reach out and grab her hand and give it a quick squeeze. She looked over at him and saw how content he was at that particular moment. "Just out of curiosity," she said out of the blue, "how do you feel about teenagers?"

"Teenagers?", he asked, looking understandably confused. Then he looked down at her stomach, given how many times they been intimate since they been married it was a natural conclusion on his part. Even if he did jump to it from the word teenagers

"No," she said with a slight grin to put him at ease. "At least not yet. But I had an opportunity to mentor somebody today, a really sweet girl. Obviously it wasn't a permanent thing. But it did get me wondering how you felt, we never really discussed it before."

"Were you going to at least ask our opinion first if you decided to take the kid under your wing full time?", Xypher asked. Carter gave him a quick flick.

"I would have at least warned the two of you about her first," she told the pin. Carter seemed satisfied with her answer and they walked in silence for a bit. After her 'talk' with Vincent she knew she couldn't keep him in the dark any longer. "Carter," she said to get his attention, "do you remember when I told you I had to figure out some things before I saw you again?"

"After they questioned you about what you knew about Vincent's plan," he said after thinking about it for a moment. "What about it?"

She hesitated a bit before saying, "I think I'm ready to tell you what I was trying to figure out."

"You don't have to tell me if you really don't want to," he told her.

"I want to," she said as she pulled him closer. "And you deserve to know." She looked up at him, "Just remember, I came back and asked you to marry me. Then you can tell me what my faux," she said lifting a word her sister-in-law liked to use when calling Carter 'big brother' and he grinned at her use of it, "father-in-law wanted you to earn today."

"Of course," he agreed easily enough. Jules took his arm and gave it a quick squeeze as they walk the path. Now all was right in her world. She was home, the love of her life was next to her, and not a red envelope in sight. Maybe for this one night at least they could just be a some what normal husband and wife. And she better not have just jinx this moment.


End file.
